When I was in middle school, I took my first elective STEM course, Tech Tools 1, and let me tell you that was the worst three months of my middle school career. On my first day I so excited, it was a new class, new experience, and I walked in--there were only two other girls in my class. In a class of almost 40. THREE GIRLS. When we started team rotations, which meant each class we would practice a new skill, whether it be working with electricity, building a bridge, or coding--it was an adaptive course, and it was interesting. Sadly, when I started, I would always be taking notes, not soldering wires, not designing the bridge, not coding, it was my male counterpart. I lost interest in the STEM course I was beyond excited for, and that three months of belittlement followed me through high school and college.
Now, I’m a writer. I majored in English and got a job marketing for an IT company. I love what I do, but sometimes I doubt myself. What if in that middle school, Tech Tools course I was looked at as equal in a male-dominated class? What if my interest in engineering, coding, architecture, etc. was fostered at a younger age? What if I didn’t fall into societal roles and chose a liberal career path? Should I be writing blogs about our new applications or should I be writing the application itself?
Genetically, girls are more than capable of succeeding as scientists, mathematicians, engineers, physicists, etc. In 2013, the New York Times performed a study which found that 15-year-old girls outperform their male counterparts around the world--expect in the United State, Britain, and Canada. The cause: environment. Shocker.
So if the discrepancy is environmental, as it was for me, how do we change it, how do we start gender neutralizing job markets? Girls Who Code.
Girls Who Code is a nonprofit started by Reshma Saujani in 2012. It was aimed to foster and build excitement for computer science among high- school women. Her goal is to enroll one million women by 2020 and tech companies like Google and Twitter are backers and engineers at Facebook, AT&T, and others have signed on as mentors.
Thank God. Ten years ago, when I was in middle school, taking my tech tools course, hating 40 minutes of my life every other day for three months no one was acknowledging this gap or this disinterest. But, now we are. We are working towards some gender neutrality, and big name companies are finally evoking some power, they’re fighting to make a difference, they’re fostering our youth. Hopefully, in another ten years, there will NOT be another girl like me who felt belittled in her tech class and several years later questioned her career move. This move for equality strengthens our bond, and as more women work together in this push for gender equality, we will find balance in STEM careers.
