Girls First Lab
Girls First Lab is an evidence-based initiative and pioneering social enterprise aimed at empowering women from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them pursue careers in STEM and competitive fields such as law, economics, and technology to access high-paid jobs, helping narrow the gender gap in academia and the global labour force.How were we born
I'm Ysa, I am passionate about making education more inclusive. As a neurodivergent woman and first-generation student, I have witnessed the persistent gender disparities in competitive fields, that seeded my motivation to fund the Girls First Lab.
The problem to tackle
Worldwide, women face fewer and lower-paying job opportunities compared to men. This is reflected in lower participation rates, with only half of women globally working or looking for work (50%) compared to four-fifths of men (80%). Women also face disadvantages in advancing their careers or starting successful businesses. Adding to these challenges, recent data suggests the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these gender disparities and widened this gap.
There are also gender-based employment trends throughout history that unfairly tilt the balance against women. Achieving gender equality in the workplace goes beyond just having the same number of men and women employed. It’s not just about getting a job, it is also about the quality of the jobs performed by both genders and ensuring that both have equal access.
How we help
- Can neuroscience help us bridge the gender gap? We believe it can!
- Understanding how the brain works in a learning environment could help students achieve their full potential.
- As part of our coaching programme, we are developing a neuroscience-based mentoring programme to help female students succeed in their careers.
Who do we help
The initiative targets women from all sectors, but it will have a special focus on individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as low-income families, first-generation students, and the neurodivergent community.
The programme uses neuroscience research to build learning tools designed to improve areas of learning where neurodivergent students might struggle the most, such as improving attention spans, enhancing working memory, and other cognitive skills.
What else do we do
Besides mentoring, our programme offers career advice for women, as well as organising events, and research conferences to raise awareness about gender inequalities. This is an evidence-based initiative. We have gathered a wide variety of research on gender inequality issues, using quantitative and qualitative data from several institutions and research departments such as The Work Bank and the International Labour Organisation, along with an extensive literature review of academic papers.
We celebrate diversity and inclusion
Our programme promotes and celebrates diversity by fostering a supportive community network for women, through events, workshops, and research conferences we raise awareness about gender disparities.
Long term goals
Educational interventions work, plenty of social science researchers have taught us that. In the long term, through rigorous monitoring and evaluation, we will be able to measure the effectiveness of participants' academic and career outcomes. Our goal is not only to enhance individual prospects but to contribute to broader societal change.
The official website is currently been updating, please get in touch if you need more information.
