“One of the things that I’ve been focused on as President is how we create an all-hands-on-deck approach to science, technology, engineering, and math… We need to make this a priority to train an army of new teachers in these subject areas, and to make sure that all of us as a country are lifting up these subjects for the respect that they deserve.”

-President Barack Obama

Since the beginning of time, the sciences have been dominated by males. In textbooks, you can easily find names of Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, but it is uncommon to come across the names of the incredible women in the scientific community. They are unfairly overshadowed.

Where is Emmy Noether, a woman who made "landmark contributions" to abstract algebra and theoretical physics? Without salary or title, Noether worked at the Mathematical Institute of Erlange. She was only allowed to lecture under the name of one of her coworkers and did "foundational work on abstract algebra, working in group theory, ring theory, group representations, and number theory."

Where is Rosalind Franklin, a woman who conducted pioneering research on molecular biology and contributed "much of the research and discovery work that led to the understanding of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA"? James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize for the model of DNA after Franklin's death.

Where is Chien-Shiung Wu, a woman who was invited to work on the Manhattan Project and is recognized as the "First Lady of Physics" because of her significant contributions to nuclear physics? After WWII, she worked with Dr. Tsung-Dao Lee and Dr. Chen Ning Yang in Columbia University and Wu disproved a law of symmetry in physics called the principle of conversation of parity. She observed that there is a preferred direction of emission. Her discovery about the law of parity was not recorded and her colleagues won the Nobel Peace prize, not her.

There are many female scientists like Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and Chien-Shiung Wu, almost forgotten by general public. Yes, Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are as equally important and I am not saying that the attention given to them is unfair, but being a woman with a STEM career is difficult when all the awards and attention are given to your colleagues.

But don't be discouraged.

The White House, under the direction of President Obama, has been dedicated to increasing the participation of females (with other underrepresented groups) in the STEM field so that the balance of representation can be corrected. The Office of Science and Technology Policy is collaborating with the White House Council on Women and Girls and they're increasing the engagement of girls with STEM subjects, encouraging mentoring for women in academic and professional environments and supporting efforts to keep women in the STEM workforce.

There are also efforts by non-profit organizations, like Woman Who Code and Girl Develop It, to encourage women to take interest in STEM subjects.

However, despite of these tremendous growing support for women and other minorities, women only comprise "39 percent of chemists and material scientists, 28 percent of environmental scientists and geoscientists, 16 percent of chemical engineers and just 12 percent of civil engineers."

And, as someone who is working hard to pursue my dreams of becoming an astrophysicist for NASA, I'm begging you. Don't give up. I know I don't want to look around my work space and only see the faces of the men who are eager to take my work and run with it for praise and admiration. And I know that working in STEM isn't just for the awards and respect that may come with it, but wouldn't it be nice to get recognition for your life's work? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to work with your colleagues without being afraid of getting betrayed or being underestimated?

Women are as capable of contributing ideas that could change the world as men. In the words of Nichelle Nicholas, "Science is not a boy's game, it's not a girl's game. It's everyone's game. It's about where we are and where we're going."