Psychology Insights, Career Tip & Historical Women💜

First things first – Happy New Year from Erin & Zahrah ✨

Kicking off 2026 with psychology insights into confidence building, our final instalment of historical women in STEM, and a little career tip to kickstart our growth this year. 

Psychology Tip – Confidence ⭐️

Workplace confidence can often feel daunting, but it’s more than just a mindset; it’s about how you carry yourself. Research shows that self-efficacy is linked closely to confidence. This is the belief in your ability to succeed at specific tasks (Bandura, 1997). Studies also show that embodied cognition plays a heavy role; how you dress and carry yourself can heavily influence how competent and confident you feel. These both can in turn affect how others perceive you. Importantly, confidence develops through consistent actions. Repeated exposure to challenges builds evidence that you can cope, reinforcing a confidence mindset over time. Here are a few tips to apply this day-to-day: 💜 Wearing colours that feel “powerful” to you, like navy or deep green, can subtly boost confidence.  💜 Reframe your thinking, replace “I can’t” with “I’m learning how” to foster growth.  💜 Seek small challenges, like presenting ideas in team meetings, to reinforce confidence.

Community 2026 ⭐️

Watch out for comms next year, and invites to new events to keep you all growing and thriving in your studies & careers:

💜 Webinars to support your personal & professional development

💜 In-person meet ups to build your community

💜 Regular newsletter & WhatsApp updates to keep you all in loop

Weekly STEMspiration ⭐️

Historical Women in STEM

In the final instalment of our Historical Women in STEM series, we’re spotlighting one last woman whose work quietly transformed her field despite being overlooked at the time… Nettie Steavens.

As a woman entering science later in life, Stevens faced additional barriers. She began her research in her mid-30s, funding the majority of her education herself. Through meticulous research, Stevens discovered that biological sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes, during an ongoing debate among scientists on whether sex was influenced by environment or inheritance. Despite the significance of her findings, Stevens’ work was overshadowed by another male scientist, Thomas Hunt Morgan, who later received widespread recognition in genetics. Stevens unfortunately passed away at the age of only 50, before her contributions could be officially acknowledged.

Today, Stevens’ story acts as a reminder of how easily our scientific history can be lost and rewritten. Throughout this series, we wanted to challenge you to reconsider how many foundational discoveries were made by women and whose names are rarely mentioned. Its important to remember how historically recognition is often shaped by gender, timing, and power structure rather than impact alone. By reclaiming these stories, we take a small but meaningful step toward a more equitable and truthful history of STEM.

Career Tip 💜

It can often feel intimidating with how the job market is constantly evolving, and staying relevant requires continual learning. Proactive actions, like up-skilling, can make you more competitive and open to new opportunities as you start the new year.

Here are some tips to help you with that✨: 

💜 Identify key skills in your field and make a learning plan. 

💜 Take online courses, workshops, or certifications. 

💜 Seek a mentorship or feedback to improve performance. 

💜 Practice new skills in small projects or side assignments.

Get Involved

Got an idea for newsletter segments? Let us know by replying to this email! If you’re a STEM employer >> talk to me about your plans to improve inclusivity for women in STEM, let’s see how we can get you there together.  If you’re a woman in STEM >> reach out and have your story featured! Young women need to see the generation of women before them working in industry to be inspired, that could be you!

Thanks for being part of feminSTEM.
Erin 💜
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