As of Dec. 5, the new Girls in STEM club was established by juniors Clara Peterson, Katie Smith, Margaret Wicklund and Madeline Bonilla, with their goal being to inspire and encourage young girls to expand their learning and work to close the gap between men and women in the STEM field.
Stereotypes between males and females can begin all the way back in elementary school. When kids are not being introduced to women in the STEM field at an early age, they will not think of the field as an option.
Club advisor and biology teacher Staci Brown emphasized that some people still believe girls and boys are limited to certain roles, where instead opportunities should be based on what someone knows and the choices they’re given.
Gender stereotypes can also factor in from the media. As men predominantly play STEM characters in movies and television, it makes women believe that they cannot succeed in such roles and they are not capable of following their dreams due to how they look.
“There’s sort of this dumb blonde mentality or way that men sometimes look at girls and don’t expect basic, regular looking girls to be doing things like this.” co-president Peterson explained. “I just wish they would realize that appearances or gender doesn’t matter at all.”
Even though some women do make it to the STEM field, they still experience things such as unequal pay, sexism, and sometimes gender based violence. The man-made system also does not have much resources for women, as they are just beginning to enter the field, meaning women have to create these resources for themselves.
“My mom was getting her PhD in agricultural engineering while pregnant with me, and most of those buildings were made long before women were expected to be getting a STEM degree. So being pregnant, she had to basically make a makeshift baby changing room. She had to make all these things for herself, since she paved her way,” Peterson added.
Many students get influenced by teachers, who play big roles in their beliefs of a career in the STEM field. The teachers who inspire kids to have a different mindset about themselves and their beliefs, are the teachers that students admire and remember when they succeed.
When asked about a teacher who inspires her, junior club member Birdie Drexel, shared that she is inspired by biology teacher Stacy Bartlet, who, according to Drexel, is “really enthusiastic about her job in teaching biology and it just really inspires me, because there aren’t that many teachers who love their job and like what they teach that much, so it’s really amazing to see her passion,” Drexel said.
The club aims to close the gap by giving girls the resources they need to pursue a STEM career. The club founders have brainstormed many ways to bring these resources to their meetings.
“We plan to have twice monthly meetings. One of those monthly meetings, we plan on researching or doing an activity together that’s STEM related, and the other one would be interviewing someone in a high demand STEM career,” Peterson explained.
Girls in STEM is a nationwide program focused on encouraging young leaders, increasing female participation and building confidence for girls hoping to join the STEM field.
“I think that girls in STEM is a great idea that the students came up with,” Brown said. “If there’s ways that we can get girls inspired to keep on going into STEM, that would be awesome and this is a nice way that we can do that.”
