Interview with Marië-Noelle Barton
Meet Marië-Noelle Barton, the former Executive Director of the WISE Campaign who for over 18 years has helped pave the road to raise the number of girls into STEM
About Yourself
Tell us a bit about your background and your career before WISE.
I came over from France supposedly for one year to be a French assistant at a secondary school and decided to stay. I taught French for four years before becoming a careers advisor.
What drove you to this career change?
Although I was a careers adviser, I still found it difficult to advise students about careers in Engineering so it was a natural progression to get involved and gain from the experience. I have also always been keen to support women’s initiatives.
Working with WISE
What was the most memorable experience/event you have had at WISE?
I don’t really want to single one experience out as so many were memorable so I’ll say meeting my husband at a RAEng lecture and dinner!
How did the idea of the WISE buses come about?
Nottingham Trent Polytechnic was running a programme of buses equipped with technology workstations aimed at boys and girls. They agreed to concentrate on girls and to be part of the WISE Campaign. The first WISE bus was launched from 10 Downing Street by Margaret Thatcher, the then Prime Minister – who at university studied Natural Sciences, specialising in Chemistry.
Could you tell us any particular anecdotes about them?
So often a WISE bus would arrive at a school only to find that it could not be driven through a narrow school gate or electricity was not available because the teacher had not read the briefing notes until the morning of the arrival. But we improvised and always managed to run the programme
Challenging projects and overcoming obstacles
What was your most challenging project at WISE and why?
Getting men involved in the Campaign. When I started, most of the committees’ membership was female and I felt that we were preaching to the converted. I was determined to widen the membership.
I did this by no longer promoting WISE as an equal opportunities issue, but as an employment issue. It was a case of demonstrating to people that recruiting from 100% of the population was more effective than limiting the choice to 48% of the population, the percentage of men in the UK.
Why do you think that over the years girls that do chose STEM prefer careers in Science and Pharmacy over Engineering and Construction?
We researched this and the young women surveyed told us that they believed pharmacy was a caring career. I understood a lot about promoting STEM from that piece of work. It became important to show young girls the extensive impact that STEM subjects have on improving our quality of lifestyle.
What has been WISE’s most significant contribution?
There are several:
To have the percentage of women working in Science and Engineering increase from 7% to 25%, to have enrolled the support of men in promoting our cause and for WISE to be such a well known brand name.
Advice to budding female engineers and scientists
What would you recommend to a girl who wants to do engineering or construction but is unsure of which field to get into?
I would strongly recommend her to gain work experience with summer work or anything that will get her to work in a company to see if she will really enjoy a career in that field. I would also suggest the choice of a broad degree to keep her options open.
What piece of advice would you give to an aspiring female engineer?
I would advise her to be very focused and determined because there will be barriers. It is so important that she networks, as this could open up a wide range of opportunities and contacts.
Marie-Noëlle still promotes STEM in schools through speeches.
For more information, visit www.mnbarton.co.uk
