Academy for Enterprising Girls.
A brighter, bolder future for Australian girls
Earlier in the year, Mrs Pinnington and four students from year 5 participated in the co-design of an entrepreneurial school for girls at Griffith University. We are pleased to announce that the Academy for Enterprising Girls had it's launch this week and we are very proud to have contributed in a small way to this wonderful initiative.
A cooperative alliance to build Australian girls’ participation in entrepreneurship and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) kicks off today with the official launch of the Academy for Enterprising Girls.
The Australian Government, COSBOA and a range of major international tech companies, corporates, start-ups, incubators and the entrepreneurial community have joined together to support more young women with great business ideas to become tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.
We know that entrepreneurship and STEM-based skills are essential to the future of work in Australia, and around the world, but we are already facing skill shortages in key areas. We are proud to be a part of the solution - by helping more young women secure their economic futures, and grow the talent pool for the future workforce.
The Academy for Enterprising Girls is funded by an Australian Government grant, with matched funding and in-kind support from all industry partners.
We believe attracting women and girls to STEM and providing an environment for them to thrive and progress is a shared responsibility of government, academia, industry, the education sector, and the community.
Because the integration of STEM skills with other skills like entrepreneurship is key to the success of leading organisations in a large number of fields and industries.
Here’s a few quick facts:
- Entrepreneurship and innovation are considered essential future workforce skills, yet 23 per cent of Australian girls ( involved in our codesign workshops) did not know what an entrepreneur was, and
- 40 per cent could not name a female entrepreneur or business person. Of those who could name a female entrepreneur, family and friends marginally outranked Hollywood reality TV stars.
- The girls reported the biggest barriers to pursuing entrepreneurship were a lack of access to education and mentors (27 per cent), lack of confidence (24 per cent), and lack of female business role models (12 per cent).
- STEM jobs in Australia are growing at a rapid 1.5 times the rate of other jobs in recent years[1], and boys still outnumber girls 3 to 1 in physics and almost 2 to 1 in advanced math classes.[2]
- In the workplace the divide is even greater, with women making up only 16 per cent of the STEM-skilled workforce in Australia.[3]
Today’s 10-18-year-old girls will be the entrepreneurs and innovation workers of 2025. We must take action now to show Australian girls that anything is possible with the right skills, attitude and support.
Girls can now sign up to become Enterprising Girls by registering here . Here they can find advice, tips and guidance from some of Australia’s most successful female entrepreneurs, presented in a fun and engaging way. When the full program launches later this year, they will be able to participate in an innovative digital program developed to cultivate their skills in design thinking, coding and entrepreneurship via self-paced online learning, or as part of a national in-person workshop program. This will provide late primary school and high school girls with a pathway to further education and future employers.
If you, or a business you know of wants to be involved in the program, go to www.enterprisinggirls.com.au/industrysupporters to find out how.
[2] Australian Government – Advancing Women in STEM report:
[3] Australian Academy of Science, Women in STEM Decadal Plan