We NEED to Encourage Young Girls to Pursue STEM

I am a woman in STEM. I always have been. I began to pursue computer science around the beginning of middle school. Before deciding technology was my future, I loved physics and math, I build mini rockets to launch at the park with my dad. One thing that has always affected me, was the lack of women around me. In every STEM class (that wasn’t mandatory), I was the only woman. Coming to college, that didn’t change. In larger classes (100+), I’d occasionally see one or two other girls, but generally, it’s just me. There are many detrimental effects to excluding women from STEM, aside from my loneliness.

Innovation is the future. Diversity is the key to innovation. Recently, advancement has begun to slow. Yes we have new technologies that are amazing, but there’s no new smartphone. Previously, there has been a life-altering invention roughly every decade. Many people argue that there’s nothing new to create, only things to improve. But are things really improving? When is the last time someone has easily used a printer? Why are washing machines separate from dryers? Why haven’t we perfected the older advancements? The answer is that there is an extreme lack of diversity in the world of STEM. The vast majority are Asian, Indian, or White men. There is a major gap in STEM.

Think back to when you were in elementary school. If you were lucky, your school had adopted the new STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) curriculum. However, most schools did not encourage students to pursue STEM, the topics were simply included in the curriculum. Some high schools offered STEM electives. While in school, I took every STEM elective I could. I even attended STEM summer camps. The main thing that stood out to me during all of those classes/camps was that I was the only girl. It wasn’t until college, where classes were full of a hundred or more students, that I saw another girl in attendance.

Just as with anything else, there are various stereotypes surrounding STEM. Movies present scientists, mathematicians, etc. as being nerdy, genius, men. Young girls are exposed to and influenced by these stereotypes. Unfortunately, it’s not just the media that is limiting the aspiration of young girls. Young girls are given Barbies to play with, enforcing the idea that women should be beautiful and restricting their imagination to a woman (the Barbie) in a home (the dollhouse). Boys, on the other hand, are given Legos, which encourage creativity and an engineering mindset. Boys are given toy planes and trains, leading them to ask how these things work, what these things do, etc.

Children are inherently curious, every five-year-old’s favorite word is ‘why’. It is the responsibility of the teachers and parents to expose children to STEM, and their curiosity will naturally follow. If the adults can create a supportive, encouraging environment, then young girls will blossom into mini scientists or mathematicians. Classrooms need to be inclusive, giving every student the same opportunities to learn. Girls need female role models; when the school has a guest speak to the class about their career, it should be a woman just as often as it is a man.

The key to innovation is to include everyone in development and research, regardless of gender. Encouraging young girls to pursue STEM requires a change in society’s attitude and the child’s environment at home as well as at school. By creating comfortable, inspiring learning environments girls won’t feel scared to pursue STEM. Together, we can create a world where everyone can contribute to STEM fields. The resulting diversity will drive innovation.