I have a technical degree and graduated from the college of engineering at my school. I have done internships and worked within my field of study, where I provide support. Most days at work, I wear work boots and hot pink safety glasses. As woman in STEM, I constantly hear about the shortage of girls in my field; I have heard all of the arguments on ways we hold back girls. One argument I have heard repeatedly is that to encourage girls to go into technical STEM fields, you shouldn't call them pretty. I, for one, do not think this is the best hope to get more girls to go into STEM fields.

When this Verizon Wireless commercial came out about what a girl hears when you call them pretty, it blew people away. I heard people vow not to call their daughters pretty ever again. While I understand what this commercial was getting at, I also quickly decided one thing: being smart and being pretty do not need to be mutually exclusive things. Think about it, most little girls want to be called cute or pretty. That shouldn't be the only compliment you give a child, they should also be praised for being kind to others or being artistic when they finish a finger painting in preschool. What's to say a little girl who likes to wear tutus and paint her toenails can't also love to play with her magnetics set or go play at the science museum.

I don't know all the answers for how to get more girls in STEM. It's a complex issue with many contributing factors. In many schools girls are encouraged to pursue studies besides math and science. There are very few female scientist role models that are talked about or have their work actually accredited to them. I knew about Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison in early elementary school, I didn't learn about Madam Marie Curie until late high school.

When I was in high school, I was involved in a program devoted to getting young girls interested in STEM. One certain weekends they would have experiments and classes for middle and high school girls to take part in. I remember one time one of the engineers holding these sections was talking to one of the volunteers about how to get more young girls to pursue STEM in college. His
response was simple: "Tell them they can still do they want to do in life." He went on to explain one of the most common questions he was asked when he did science projects with girls in late elementary school and early middle school was if they could still be a mom if they were a scientist or an engineer.

To me, as a woman in STEM, I hate being treated like such an anomaly. It's degrading when I tell someone I'm getting a degree from the engineering college and their response is "Oh that's cute." I remember one time someone asked me if my program was really an "MRS. degree." Again, I may not have all the answers, but I do feel these two things are keeping more women from going into STEM fields: 1) treating women in STEM like they are so far outside the norm and 2) trying to fit girls who are interested in STEM into a little box that is devoid of being called pretty or being able to play with princess toys.