In honour of International Women’s Day, a global holiday celebrated annually as a focal point in the women’s rights movement, we’re highlighting our favourite depictions of women in STEM in film and TV to spur you to develop your digital skills.

Read on for our top picks and what courses on our Digital Skills Programme you can take if you’re feeling inspired.

Watch: Hidden Figures

Based on the book of the same name, Hidden Figures recounts the true story of Black female mathematicians Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), who worked at NASA during the 1960s Space Race. While all three women prove themselves formidable in a white/male-dominated workplace, an especially inspiring storyline shows Dorothy teaching herself and her co-workers programming after NASA installs an IBM 7090 electronic computer that threatens to replace “human computers,” a move that sees her promoted to supervise the Programming Department.

Take: Introduction to Data Science – student booking link, staff booking link (13^th March 2023)

If you loved Hidden Figures, you’ll definitely want to check out our Introduction to Data Science webinar, which familiarises beginners with concepts such as big data, statistics and analysis, and coding languages and tools.

Watch: The Imitation Game (2014) and Enigma (2001)

Both these films feature British codebreakers working to decrypt German messages at Bletchley Park during World War II. While The Imitation Game primarily focuses on Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), it also highlights cryptanalyst Joan Clarke’s (Keira Knightley) integral role in the breaking of the Enigma machine. Enigma, on the other hand, shines more of a spotlight on the Wrens (Women’s Royal Naval Service) working at Bletchley Park, albeit through a heavily fictionalised mystery plot with a terrific Kate Winslet at its centre. Both films are, however, well worth a watch, especially if you’re interested in cryptography.

Take: Information Security: Hacking Humans – student booking link, staff booking link (28^thMarch), Information Security: My neighbour hacked my toothbrush – student booking link, staff booking link(4^th April), or Information Security: How hackers attack – student booking link, staff booking link (21^st March).

If you’re into cryptography, chances are you’ll enjoy these Information Security sessions tracking the ever evolving cyber security landscape. Sadly, we don’t have any codebreaking workshops on offer at the moment, but we can offer some helpful guidance on making sure your data isn’t as decipherable as the Enigma machine.

Watch: Ghostbusters (2016)

This updated version of Ghostbusters centres on female scientists investigating paranormal phenomena in New York City. While the science of building proton packs is unfortunately beyond the scope of our Digital Skills Programme, we do have a couple of courses that would help with the data visualisation aspect of ghost-hunting.

Take: Microsoft Power BI: An Introduction to Power BI and data ethics – student booking link, staff booking link (13^th April) – this offering introduces users to Power BI, a business intelligence tool that provides an interactive platform for “non-technical” users to understand data. Maybe if the women of Ghostbusters had used Power BI to create eye-catching and interactive dashboards, they wouldn’t have had such a hard time convincing people that ghosts were real.

Watch: The X-Files (1993-2018)

Episode 3.06 “2Shy”

You didn’t think we’d end this list without referencing Gillian Anderson’s iconic Agent Dana Scully, did you? Taking TV by storm in the early 1990s, Agent Scully made her mark on girls and women across the globe over the course of nine original seasons (before returning in 2016 for two more) as people tuned in to watch the medical doctor turned paranormal investigator go head to head with monsters, aliens and cigarette smoking men at a time when it was incredibly rare to see a woman in STEM as a leading role on a network television series.

The “Scully Effect,” wherein girls and women were inspired to pursue STEM subjects after seeing Anderson’s character onscreen, was examined in a study by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, but it’s safe to say she continues to be a role model to countless individuals.

Take: Take a look at our resources on Digital Safety and Citizenship. You could really watch any episode of The X-Files to see why Scully is awesome but season 3 episode 6 “2Shy” not only shows her as a fighter but also illuminates some dangers of online dating that are still relevant today. As we integrate more digital technologies into our daily lives, just as Scully and Mulder were starting to do in the 90s, it’s more important than ever to take pains to keep ourselves safe, too. Our Digital Safety and Citizenship resources illustrate the importance of staying safe while connecting with others in digital spaces.

Original text by Dr Vicki Madden.

Image credits

‘Katherine Johnson’ by NASA; restored by Adam Cuerden – http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/1966-l-06717.jpeg, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.

(NASA; restored by Adam Cuerden)

(NASA; restored by Adam Cuerden)

(NASA; restored by Adam Cuerden)

Celebrating Film and Television Depictions of Women in STEM / International Women's Day by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0