Princess And President Vie As Kids' Career Choices
It's a well-known fact that girls are underrepresented in STEM careers and that women currently hold less than 25% of STEM jobs. That's why it is so important for us to pave the way for future generations, so girls see themselves in STEM fields.
Maybe you're haunted by visions of an ironing board, or loathing the idea of going into motherhood, but these three girls have switched gears and are following their dreams instead. Meet Princess Ugboaja, a Nigerian entrepreneur who loves coding; Zahra Noorbakhsh, comedian and first female president of Harvard Lampoon; and Natalie Ohlsson-Dodds, psychology professor turned polymer scientist.
Start-ups are being created on a daily basis, and many women have gone on to co-found them. These three girls are paving the way for the next generation by breaking the glass ceiling in STEM fields.
princess ugboaja (born 1989) is an entrepreneur from Lagos, Nigeria. She found inspiration in her own childhood that led her to start her first start-up at age 14 and a BSc in Computer Science from University of Sussex. She founded her first business at age 14 and went on to start another when she was 21 years old. While growing up, she remembers trailing around with a tape measure trying to figure out what length dress is needed for a certain occasion. She realized that she could turn the tape measure into a cell phone and make it cheaper, better and more accessible for women. She founded her first start-up "You Me" at age 14 and went on to start another when she was 21 years old. Having seen how important smartphone usage is within the African society, she started to develop an app called "MumsAble" which tracks the activities of children using their smartphones. The idea came to her while sitting on a bench in Oxford Street one day, asking herself: "How can I create an affordable smartphone tracker for kids?" Two prototypes later, MumsAble was born and is now available in Nigeria as well as in Kenya. According to Princess, the most important thing is that women are starting to have access to smartphones a lot more than they used to. MumsAble is also going to be launching in Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda next.
Zahra Noorbakhsh (born 1991) is an Iranian-American Harvard graduate, stand-up comedian and writer, and the first female president of Harvard Lampoon. Zahra's mother supported her education from the beginning so she wouldn't have to worry about raising a family or getting married. This encouragement helped Zahra get accepted into Harvard for Computer Science but Zahra knew that she didn't want to become a programmer like her father had been. Zahra remembers wanting to be the first female president at Harvard and decided to try stand up comedy as a way to express herself. After working as an engineer, Zahra enrolled in Harvard's one-year stand-up program. She graduated in 2012 with highest honors and set her sights on becoming the first female president of Harvard Lampoon. She got involved with performing stand-up at the age of 18, from a friend who said that it would help her get over her shyness. As she performed more, she realized that she loved it and wanted to pursue comedy professionally. "The goal was never to have my own TV show," Zahra told USA Today, "It was always about getting women into technology fields. It was always about getting women into stand-up comedy. It was always about getting people to do things they thought they couldn't." Zahra will be releasing her first Comedy Central special in May 2016, and continues to work as a writer on Modern Family.
Natalie Ohlsson-Dodds (born 1979) is a Swedish-Australian polymer scientist based in Sweden, who dropped out of high school at age 16 to work in the electronics industry until she could afford university tuition. At the age of 17, Natalie Ohlsson-Dodds started working for an engineering company where she learned technical skills that she applied when enrolling at Linköping University. Despite a turbulent relationship with a professor, Natalie's interest in polymer science took off and she graduated with a BSc in Chemistry before going on to earn her PhD from the University of Western Australia. She has worked at Linköping University, the University of Western Australia and La Trobe University where she was awarded a postdoctoral position and an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. Her current goal is to develop smart textiles (e.g., clothes that work with smartphones) which would help people living with diabetes by alerting them of high blood sugar levels. These textiles work by pulling double duty as both sensors and meters. Natalie plans to continue developing these smart textile technologies in her new position as a professor at the University of Western Australia.
From STEM to Startup Presidents: Promoting Women's Career Choices [ARTICLE END]
Women have always been underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and even though numbers are gradually changing , unfortunately the number of females who choose science-based careers have been reduced over the years due to various factors. In fact, the percentage of women who enter STEM majors during their college years has decreased from 34% in the 1980s to 26% in 2014; a reduction of 8%. This is in line with the statistics that show that only 18% of women have jobs in science and engineering fields.
Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) also reported that there is a significant underrepresentation of women in STEM-related faculty positions at academic institutions as well. It appears that these percentages are even more disproportionate when it comes to senior level positions, because they get reduced to 2%.
This issue has raised concerns among academics and scholars from various disciplines, such as psychology and education, who argue that low percentages are not due to lack of interest among female students but because young females are being discouraged from joining STEM fields even before getting into college. Others have argued that females, who actually pursue their careers in STEM subjects, often end up leaving these disciplines not because they are uninterested but because of the hostile environment and poor work-life balance.
According to statistics revealed by various reports, the lack of a work-life balance, as well as being treated as a second class citizens and experiencing gender discrimination is one of the main reasons that prevent women from staying in STEM fields. Many women are resigning or taking time off or quitting their jobs altogether because they feel excluded and/or blocked by their male counterparts. The lack of diversity in the workplace and the hierarchy that are associated with it often make it difficult for females to advance within their organization.
This issue has also raised attention from policy making bodies and government agencies, such as the American Association of University Women (AAUW), who claim that the number of women leaving STEM careers is a cause for concern that can be fixed by ensuring equal hiring practices and by increasing awareness about female students' career choices, among other things. In a study conducted by AAUW, it was revealed that 64% of general science majors are women but only 2% end up graduating with a degree in science.
In terms of media representation, there is indeed a disparity between men and female characters on TV.
Conclusion
The numbers clearly show a difference between the amount of women and men who pursue STEM careers but it is not clear why the disparity exists.
However, the issue that needs to be addressed is that gender inequity in STEM is not only due to a lack of interest on behalf of women but also due to the hostile environment and absence of variables that young girls are exposed to before they even consider pursuing a career in STEM fields. Another factor that contributes to this disparity is due to the fact that these subjects (STEM fields) are often portrayed as male subjects by society and by media. Stereotypes about what males should be interested in (e.g., sports, cars) and about what women are supposed to enjoy (e.g.