At a time when the most famous women in American culture are people such as Kim Kardashian and Nicole “Snookie” Polizzi, whose notoriety rests on the shifting foundations of inherited fortunes and drunken sexcapades, its difficult for girls to find role models whose contributions to society rest on their intellectual achievements. I remember seeing a girl in a mall a few years ago wearing a shirt that said, “I’m too pretty to do math.” I was disgusted and worried – Is this sentiment really a part of American society?
The truth is, there is colossal underrepresentation of women in a STEM field. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Women earn only 17 to 18 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering and computer science, and only 11 percent of executives at Fortune 500 tech companies are women. In fact, women make up half of the American workforce, but hold less than a quarter of jobs in a STEM field, according to the Association for Women in Science. Why aren’t more women dominating in STEM? In addition to the lack of proper women role models, American society discourages young girls from pursuing these jobs and interests in subtle ways that too often go unrealized.
Our personalities, beliefs, expectations of ourselves and others, and our future behaviors are formed quite early in life; as a society, we typically condition children to be many things from a very young age. We, as a culture, do not, however, encourage little girls to become scientists and engineers. Instead, we motive them to be mothers, caretakers, cooks, designers, aestheticians, seamstresses, communicators, and hairdressers. You don’t agree? Try going to a toy store. The vast majority of toy for little girls, those colored in pink, inspire them to think about nurturing others and caring about their appearances. While these lessons are important, they exclude problem-solving, strategy, and physics… you know, the kinds of things you learn from playing with Lego, K’nex, Stratego and other male gender-coded games and toys.
In order to increase the number of women in STEM fields, it is important for Americans to start viewing young girls in a new light – as fascinated young minds full of potential of all kinds. Tulane is taking initiative in this area. On Saturday, February 24, Tulane held its first GIST (Girls in STEM at Tulane) workshop. About 120 girls from schools across metro New Orleans spent the day at Tulane participating in a variety of experiments, including “Fluids, Bubbles and Slime,” “What Makes a Banana,” “The Great Frog Leap,” and “The Missing Tooth.” I stopped by the event and spoke to some of the young participants. Myisha, an eleven-year old from Plaquemines Parish, told me she always liked science, but after her day at GIST, she loves science. Myisha smiled at me and said, “I’m a girl and I can do anything.”