International Day of the Girl was October 11
Hi friends of women in science,
Back on October 8, before Oct 11, the International Day of the Girl, Huffington Post carried an article by Camille Critenden on why science and math programs matter for girls. She notes that a number of recent publications have hailed the 'end of men' but instead, looking world wide, she sees girls and women are far behind. One piece of data she cites concerns low literacy for girls around the world, for example, "Literacy rates among girls often suffer; for example, in Afghanistan, 18 percent of girls age 15-24 are literate compared to 50 percent of boys."
But even in developed countries, the situation in STEM lags for women. For example, she cites from a recent New York Times article, "As Stephanie Coontz highlighted in a recent New York Times article,'the percentage of female electrical engineers doubled in each decade in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. But in the two decades since 1990 it has increased by only a single percentage point, leaving women at just 10 percent of the total.'" We've often deplored similar statistics on this forum.
But in college may be too late. She cites for praise programs that target girls earlier, such as Microsoft-'s DigiGirlz Hi-Tech Camp, Black Girls Code and NSF-sponsored National Girls Collaboratorive Project, all of which encourage girls to think more positively about STEM careers. Around the world, organizations such as Girls in Tech and AkiraChix work to inspire more STEM interest among girls.
She closes by noting that these projects are important "Not just because studies show that greater participation of women raises the level of collective intelligence in business teams, but because democracies deserve full participation of all their citizens."
cheers,
Laura
Dear Laura,
Thanks for paying some attention to what happens for girls in other countries too. It's easy in US to ignore the other women, but they have great contributions to make if we encourage and support them.
LW
