Inspiring women in STEM

6000 girls, 400 teachers, 169 schools, 19 counties, 4 days, 2 cities, 1 community advocating for women in STEM.

At Stryker, we understand that the future of medical device innovation relies on exceptional talent in STEM.

The Stryker’s Women’s Network led the 2019 Stryker partnership with I WISH, an initiative to inspire, encourage and motivate young female students to pursue careers in STEM. 55% of females aged 25-34 have a 3rd level degree compared to 42.9% of men in this age group, but only about 1 in 5 graduates in engineering, manufacturing, information and communication technologies are female.

We want to change the gender gap and inspire girls to pursue careers in STEM to feed the pipeline for innovation in Stryker for years to come.

What is I WISH?

I WISH (Inspiring Women in STEM) is an initiative to inspire, encourage and motivate young female students to pursue careers in STEM and features a conference and interactive exhibitions. Our Stryker team was there for the 4 days in Cork and Dublin to meet the 6,000 girls and to show them how Stryker is driven to make healthcare better.

Our speakers

A strong element of IWISH is female role models sharing their journeys and experiences from school subject choices, to college and career choices, to day-to-day work as an engineer. Stryker was honoured to have the following speakers this year, telling the students why a career in STEM really matters.

• Niamh Hegarty, Advanced Quality Engineering Manager

• Noelle Maguire, Associate R&D Manager

• Patricia Kennedy, Senior Quality Engineer in R&D

Tech IT Zone and Stryker's Graduate Programmes

Teachers are the gatekeepers to both extra-curricular STEM activities and subject options. Their influence on the environment, which shapes the girl’s perceptions of STEM subjects and careers is profound. Previous research has found that teachers want to be more informed about STEM careers and opportunities.

At this year’s Teach IT Zone, Stryker Recruiter, Eileen Nyhan and Project Engineer, Cliodhna Connolly, spoke to teachers about our Graduate Programmes and what opportunities are available to students, such as the:

• Quality Graduate Rotational Program

• RISE Engineering Program

• Advanced Operations – Global Engineering Development Program

• and various engineering internships

2019 Exhibition

This year we had interactive, hands-on demonstrations of Stryker’s life-improving products and technologies including: Defibrillators, Endoscopes, 3D Printers, Cranial Drills, Biomaterials, Stents and Catheters, Ultrasonics, Robots, and more!

To learn more about Stryker and to view current job opportunities, visit our career site and apply today!

#WeAreStryker #WomeninSTEM