- Emilie du Chatelet, 18th c. translator of Newton
I recently attended Gender Summit 3 North America (GS3NA) in Washington, D.C. It was an amazing experience being surrounded by the best and brightest from all of North America and hearing about women's struggles and accomplishments.
After returning from the conference, I've suddenly been noticing more and more items in the media discussing not only women in STEM but also programs encouraging girls to consider careers in STEM.
For example, this is an ad for GoldieBlox toys. Great name, but an even better commercial. Girls rejecting the pink princess paradigm and building a Rube Goldberg machine. Check it out.
Similarly, a Catholic girls school has created an ad campaign telling girls, You are not a princess. Girls shouldn't sit around waiting for their Prince Charming to come and save them - they're perfectly capable of saving themselves. Exactly!
I hope to keep seeing more and more efforts like this. I hope girls realize that STEM fields are fun, exciting, and challenging. If they want to be princesses, at least they can be strong, independent princesses who may very well end up rescuing Prince Charming and not the other way around.
