A Girl’s Guide to:
So
e v i t a e Cr Useful
Challenging
A Girl Can Do It!
What is
STEM?
16.8%
of NASA Astronauts are women
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Students in STEM fields do things like engineering, computer programming, chemistry, medicine, and math. There’s a few reasons we group all of these subjects together, the first being that these subjects all involve analyzing evidence, solving problems, and using tools to find answers to questions. The other reason STEM is often talked about has to do with a lack of people taking STEM classes in school and then going into STEM careers. This is especially true for girls and women. Only 15-25% of the STEM workforce is made up of women. Some people think that STEM isn’t for girls but they’re dead wrong! STEM is awesome for girls, and it might be right for you too.
Male doctors outnumber Female doctors by a ratio of
2 1 to
For every $1 men earn in STEM jobs, women earn
$1
$1
86 Cents
“STEM is so boring!”
“I’m not good enough at math, or science, or computers or.....” “There’s no girls in STEM”
Chances are, the things you like and do every day use skills you can find in STEM. The apps you use were coded by developers, phones and Ipads were designed by computer engineers, and the wifi network you use was made by a telecommmunications expert!
Don’t let doubt get the best of you! If you like science, technology, engineering, or math then you should pursue it. It’s never too late to start getting more involved in STEM. Nobody expects you to be an expert right away, what matters is that you enjoy what you do and try your hardest at it.
Unfortunately, girls are unerrepresented in STEM. But this doesn’t mean that there isn’t awesome girls in STEM. The next page profiles some awesome girls and women who are defying the odds.
n a h P e l l e h c i M
CEO • Beauty Guru • Video Producer Bio: Michelle is CEO of ipsy, a subsciption makeup service. Her career started as a beauty vlogger on YouTube where she gained a cult following of over 8 million followers.
Her Advice: “If you want to be a great creator, you have to be your own number-one fan first”
s l r Gi
Tech Skillz: Taught herself to code HTML so she could design her own website. She also uses professional software to edit her videos. Michelle calls herself a “techie nerd”. Other Interests: Helios: Femina, her self-produced web cartoon. Michelle loves to draw and is often seen doodling.
o D o h W
g n i l r e t S e i b b De CEO • Engineer • Toy Maker
Bio: Debbie noticed that girl’s toys don’t focus on science and engineering, so she decided to make her own toy company, Goldiblox. These toys teach engineering skills in a fun way
Her Advice: “It might sound crazy, but I never gave up because I believe that this is what I was born to do. I wake up every morning, so excited to tackle the next challenge of the day”
Tech Skillz: Mechanial Engineering, prototyping, computer-aided drawings.
Gitanjali Rao Scientist • Advocate • Inventor
Her Advice: “I would tell everyone who is interested in STEM to just have fun! Bio: Gitanjali won the 3M Just have fun with science “Top Young Scientist” award and keep digging deep at only 11 years old for her for solutions. If you do not work to create a lead testing succeed the first time, that’s device. Her device works with OK! There is never a limit to a phone app to immediately the number of tries it takes detect lead in water. She was to accomplish a goal.” inspired by the Flint water crisis to create an easier and Tech Skillz: Health and cheaper way to ensure water medicine, nanotube technology, bluetooth. is safe to drink. Favorite Invention: My favorite invention is Medical Resonance Imaging or MRI. MRI revolutionized the medical profession allowing early detection and treatments.
M E ST
s s o l K e i Karl Programmer• Philanthrapist • Model
Bio: Karlie started her scholarship Kode with Karlie to teach girls aged 13-18 how to code and become leaders in tech. The free 2 week summer program was started after Karlie’s own journey learning to code. Tech Skillz: Computer programming and web design languages (HMTL/ CSS, Ruby, Java, Swift), Drones, VR technology.
Her Advice: “It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can always start learning. Jump into it, learn it, just try to take one class. Give it one hour, it’s amazing what you can learn in one hour. It’s important to break that stigma of thinking it’s not cool to be smart.” Other Interests: Making cookies for her charity, Karlie’s Kookies.
A Note to Parents, Teachers, and Other Adults Knowing how to encourage a young girl to be engaged in STEM is tough. There’s a lot of expectations put on girls to be good at STEM and do well in school, but not necessarily pursue it as a career. A Technology and Engineering Literacy test distributed to eighth grade students showed that girls actually scored 3 points higher than boys of the same age. Girls have the skills, but they’re often systematically discouraged from taking STEM classes at a higher level. Studies have shown that girl’s interest in STEM wanes early on, so the best thing you can do is start early. Encourage girls by assuring them that they are capable. If you sense that they doubt their abilities, have a frank and open conversation with them that gets to the root of those feelings. Perhaps most importantly, show your girls how fun STEM can be. If you have the resources, take them to museums, purchase STEM-related toys, and point out female role models for them to follow in the footsteps of. Girls of coming generations will trailblaze the path for mass enrollment of women in STEM courses, but they need your support and encouragement to get there.
WORKS CITED Banya, Danya. “Why STEM for Girls Is so Important – Go Science Girls.” Go Science Girls, 3 Jan. 2017, gosciencegirls.com/stem-for-girls/. Cabot, Heather, and Samantha Parent Walravens. Geek Girl Rising: Inside the Sisterhood Shaking up Tech. St. Martin’s Press, 2017. Coles, Terri. “How to Encourage Girls to Get Interested in STEM.” Huffington Post, Oath, 17 Aug. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/08/17/girls-stem_a_23078434/. “Every US Astronaut Ever Listed by NASA.” DataBlog, The Guardian, www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/jul/08/us-astronauts-listed-nasa#data. Kloss, Karlie, director. Karlie Kloss: Coding Is a Superpower. Code.org, YouTube, 17 Mar. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwiln7v0fdc&list=PLyFag3loltAzQY2VdzZaSDK8Xovm-FTEl&index=4. Kloss, Karlie. “Kode With Klossy.” Kode With Klossy, www.kodewithklossy.com/. “Professionally Active Physicians by Gender.” State Health Facts, Kaiser Family Foundation, Oct. 2017, www. kff.org/other/state-indicator/physicians-by-gender/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId %22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D. Richmond, Emily. “The Complex Data on Girls in STEM.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 18 May 2016, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/05/data-girls-stem/483255/. “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Education for Global Leadership.” Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, U.S. Department of Education, www.ed.gov/stem. “‘Tethys’ : Water Lead Contamination Detector.” Young Scientist Lab, Discovery, 2017, www.youngscientistlab. com/entry/623. United States, Congress, Economics and Statistics Administration, et al. “Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation.” Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation, Department of Commerce, Aug. 2011. www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/womeninstemagaptoinnovation8311.pdf.