Let me begin by saying I was never "girly-girl." While my neighborhood friends played with
Barbies and dress-up, I created environments for my dinosaur and animal
figures; I climbed trees; I caught toads; I hiked in the fields. One of my most
memorable gifts was a microscope set for which I collected plants and ants and
inspected them. Luckily, I had parents who nurtured my interest in science and
nature. My young friends talked of careers as nurses, teachers, dancers,
models, and motherhood; I dreamt of being an archeologist. By age 10 I had my
first book on the career of archeology and for a 6th grade report I wrote a
paper on hieroglyphics. This was back in the late 60s when the number of women
in the fields of science and math were few and far between.
About a month ago, while at my local salon, the owner was
telling me that they were going to check out colleges for her daughter. I asked
what the daughter wanted to study and the woman said, "engineering!"
That conversation became the inspiration for my latest blog.
Progressively, over the past few decades, there has been a slow but gradual insurgence of women in the
sciences, including biochemistry, computer science, and environmental and
nature studies. This also became evident during our Christmas season at WTTS.
Many customers came in inquiring about and purchasing science kits for girls.
We sold chemistry and DNA sets from Science Wiz as well as brain teasers. This
is such a welcome change in my eyes!
With our ever-changing digital age and global weather patterns, and the
transition to the "going green" way of life, science is really coming
to the forefront, and priming our young girls for careers in these areas is
becoming increasingly important.
We still have a long way to go in terms of getting girls
interested in and obtaining careers in the fields of science and math, as
compared to their male peers. There are statistics available from the US STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program for girls, as well as from
the European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS): A note on girls in science
(US data). Comparatively, the statistics from both are relatively close. The
percentages of women in the scientific fields are as follows:
FIELD OF STUDY EPWS STEM
Biological Sciences 52.9% 45.9%
Chemists/material science 33.1% 43.1%
Environmental Science/
Geoscience 29.3% 28.9%
Computer science 24.1% 18.4%
Industrial engineers 14.9% 17.8%
Chemical engineers 13.1% 22.3%
Civil engineers 10.4% 13.1%
Aerospace engineers 10.3%
Electrical engineers 7.7% 8.8%
Mechanical engineers 6.7% 5.5%
The Website SchoolFamily.com has a short article
(copyright 2014 Parent Institute) listing a few things parents can do to
promote interest in math and science for their daughters. These include:
1) Discuss her career interests and encourage goals, then
determine what courses she will need to achieve her career goals.
2) Keep a positive attitude regarding math. Studies have
shown that girls have equal mathematic aptitude as boys, but girls eventually
find it is "too hard." Hone her math skills by teaching her to budget
and learn about household expenses.
3) Bring her to museums, science learning centers and
planetariums, and have her bring some friends along. These field trips could also include
companies/organizations that employ scientists and mathematicians, such as
hospitals, labs, or computer companies.
An article in the SEDL (Southwest Educational Development
Laboratory) website newsletter and a study performed by Halpern, et. al., in Encouraging Girls in Math and Science,
also stated the importance of exposing girls to female role models who work in the
fields of math and science.
In the future, WTTS plans on expanding its science section,
carrying items that hopefully will help inspire more interest in these areas
for girls, as well as boys. However, we currently do have Mensa-approved games.
Books also serve as a good introduction into the field of science, and books on
astronomy, wildlife, geology, and some microbiology are also available at WTTS.
Once again, thank you for reading, and we wish you all a
wonderful long-awaited spring!
