“Amazing Women Needed for High Paying Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).” Now this is a message that grabs your attention! Exciting our future engineers, scientists and innovators is critical to the future of our economy, yet enticing women to these fields is falling behind. According to various sources, including “Economics and Statistics Administration,” women are underrepresented in these high-paying, creative fields. The numbers indicate that in the U.S., women have held only 25 percent of STEM jobs over the last decade. A 2011 report by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce found that only one in seven engineers is a female.
I recently participated in an expert roundtable hosted by DeVry University’s Phoenix campus titled “Women in STEM Education and Careers,” where several experts from industry, academia and government addressed some of the current concerns surrounding this gender gap in STEM fields. The topic is so popular that “U.S. News & World Report” examined why, with high unemployment, there are so many STEM jobs unfilled. Employers who seek technical expertise are not finding a pool of skilled workers to employ.
So why are young girls and women not preparing themselves for these careers? During the DeVry University roundtable, the opinions were diverse. STEM education starts in kindergarten, where young girls should be exposed to hands-on engineering projects so they can see their results and are made to feel successful. Adult support from teachers, mentors and parents must eliminate the stereotype that girls “aren’t good at math” and instead stimulate their intellectual curiosity. A colleague’s daughter told me that it was “social suicide” for her to participate on a robotics team! Girls must be exposed to the types of careers available and shown that they are capable of changing the world by embracing STEM paths. Girls can be tomorrow’s leaders in top STEM companies and hold the high-paying, in-demand careers.
Overall, industry plays an important role in impacting education and preparing students for these jobs. For example, my company, Microchip Technology Inc., supports both Vex Robotics and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Both of these programs inspire students to study STEM subjects through a hands-on project where teams build robots for competition. These efforts give students a complicated engineering project where, in addition to STEM, they learn about working on deadlines, budgeting, marketing, project management, and other workforce development skills. About 30 percent of the members on FIRST teams in Arizona are girls. Over the years, I have seen many of the girls gravitate toward programming and mechanical engineering as a result of this exposure. Additionally, any student on a FIRST team is eligible to apply for over $16 million in scholarships.
Girls need heroes. They need to feel they can compete and succeed and they need be shown that the path to this success is through STEM education. Many areas impact their choices and we need to work together to close the Gender Gap.
Carol S. Popovich is the Senior FIRST® Community Relations Representative at Microchip Technology Inc. in Chandler and the Arizona FIRST Regional Director and an Advisor on the Sonoran Science Academy Board. She works closely with high school and middle school robotics students throughout Arizona.
rainity posted at 7:42 am on Tue, Jan 1, 2013.
I have been writing some articles on this topic also: http://www.engineeringgirl.com
I believe that one of the reasons why engineering is associated with being a "geek" or a "nerd" is because to become good at something -- one needs to spend a lot of time studying or practicing "that thing" to be good at it. It is not a coincidence that people who are anti-social are "geeks" and "nerds", and therefore, "scientists" and "engineers". The human race as a whole is a social species -- and the majority of people like to socialize in their free time instead of "study". I know that this sounds like a odd comment from someone who is an engineer -- but we all know that this is true!
Cerulean posted at 10:25 am on Fri, Dec 7, 2012.
I don’t mean to suggest that the differences in women’s physiology prevent young women from using their intelligence.
I am trying to make the point that you do not have to live in a nunnery like ‘Galileo’s Daughter’ to be a leader in science and math.
Bluepoet posted at 2:26 pm on Wed, Dec 5, 2012.
Interest in Math, Science and Technology is vital to our future, as a nation. The Industrial Age is drawing to a close, as the Information Age comes to fruition. This isn't a male/female issue, although Ms. Popovich does have some rather alarming statistics regarding the under-representation of women in this field. It is, indeed, a vestigal part of our society's outdated notions of the role of women. I think that is what makes the lives of women so complicated, not their physiology.
I submit that this interest is lacking, overall, in this country, for both genders. This is because of class bias, as well as cultural and religious bias and stereotypical notions of "geekdom". I say, let both boys and girls wave their Geek Flags high!!
Oh, and Ms. Popovich--I don't think these jobs go unfilled. There are many STEM-trained people coming to the US, from other countries, like India and Korea, where students are actually encouraged to learn these skills, by parents, schools, and the government!
I work in Aerospace, and we frequently have student tours, from high schools and colleges. I am encouraged by the questions and the curiosity we see from a good number of them. I just wonder what happens, when the bus drops them off at home, that night. How many are energized enough to seek more, and how many are denigrated for having imaginations?
JMJ posted at 11:49 am on Wed, Dec 5, 2012.
EVT what is UP with your stupid SPAM filter?
JMJ posted at 11:48 am on Wed, Dec 5, 2012.
In my years of teaching, I also witnessed parents who were not exposed, themselves, to "other than" [...teaching, nursing, cosmetology, secondary-instead-of-primary provider positions...] productive, marketable and satisfying careers who were literally afraid of letting their children[male or female] become "better", somehow in their lot in life. I don't know if there is a name for that syndrome, but parents, you must dream big to help your children dream big.
One of the things parents should never do is say, "Well, I was never 'good' at math, either...". That gives your child, male or female, carte blanche to not reach higher.
OK, I've said my piece. My kids and their friends have careers in marvelous fields, STEM as well as legal and the arts, which they pursued because their love of education and self-fulfillment started in the home. They are the movers and the shakers of their generation.
JMJ posted at 11:48 am on Wed, Dec 5, 2012.
Parents are the primary vital link in making sure their children are aware of amazing things that an education affords them. Steering children into a love of science and technology, if that is their passion, while ensuring their love of the Arts, as well [music, art, etc.] is something that must start in the home.
Girls tend to not want to be seen as "geeks", and even the best and the brightest girls tend to doubt themselves during their teenaged years. Studies have shown that girls do need strong female role models and male role models who encourage them. That's where teachers come in. Encouraging both girls and boys into these career paths must also extend into the guidance and career centers of their schools. That did NOT happen with my kids, unfortunately, so parents, make sure YOU are aware of the scholarship and career centers, and go online often to find opportunities for your children. There are scholarships to places like Space Camp which are available.
JMJ posted at 11:48 am on Wed, Dec 5, 2012.
Having both genders of children, and being an educator, I made sure that my offspring, both male and female, went to places like Houston's NASA Johnson Space Center, attended Space Camp in Alabama, observed an actual shuttle launch at Florida's Cape Canaveral,attended Astronomy Camp, Engineering Camp at Notre Dame, and myriad museums including the Smithsonian, Wright-Patt AFB, Pima Air Museum, visits to the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy, tours of aircraft carriers, submarines, visits to the Arizona Science Center, etc. Guess what? Thye're scientists and engineers. They make more than I ever did as a teacher.
JMJ posted at 11:47 am on Wed, Dec 5, 2012.
STEM Education is vital to girls as well as boys, starting in the HOME. Yes, the home. Parents whose educational aspirations have afforded them success in these careers tend to engender a love of the sciences, math, technology and engineering by exposing their children to career opportunities in them.
sockratties posted at 7:27 am on Wed, Dec 5, 2012.
LEON IS A TROLL.... DON'T FEED THE TROLLS
Leon Ceniceros posted at 9:40 am on Tue, Dec 4, 2012.
More ..."BLAME THE MAN".......rhetoric for the Feminists.
Can anyone in this Day and Age of lawsuits, A.C.L.U., Title XI and every other "gender discrimination ruling".....think that young girls are being told by their male teachers ........"THAT THEY CAN DO WHAT LITTLE BOYS DO".......?????
THE REASON THAT GIRLS DON'T LIKE TO GO INTO THE MATH AND ENGINEERING IS BECAUSE IT DOESN'T APPEAL TO THEM.........PERIOD.
STOP WITH THE ...."GENDER, RACIAL, ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS = BLAME GAME".
IT DOESN'T EXIST ANYMORE.......SO PLEASE QUIT RIDING THIS "DEAD" HORSE TO DEATH............[wink]
ohohmrbill posted at 9:31 pm on Mon, Dec 3, 2012.
Mr. Fatih Karatas Imam still awaiting my lawsuit.... Oh that's right you are guilty of concealing sexually harassment from a parent and failing to notify the proper authorities by law. ... Any time any place my friend.
ohohmrbill posted at 9:16 pm on Mon, Dec 3, 2012.
"Carol S. Popovich is the Senior FIRST® Community Relations Representative at Microchip Technology Inc. in Chandler and the Arizona FIRST Regional Director and an Advisor on the Sonoran Science Academy Board. She works closely with high school and middle school robotics students throughout Arizona."
I find it really incredible that MS. Popovich would even lend her name to Sonoran Science Academy and advocate for girls' rights and education in the same breath. Sonoran Science Academy had multiple cases of teachers abusing and even sexually harassing female students where Turkish staff members downplayed and even concealed such acts from parents.
Tucson Weekly Police Dispatch, July 24, 2003
Closets are for Clothes
West Ina Road and North La Cholla Boulevard, July 3, 10:40 a.m.
Students at a local school complained to a teacher that one of her colleagues repeatedly shut them in a closet, according to report from the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
One day, a student reportedly made a comment to a female teacher about being detained in a male teacher's classroom closet at the Sonoran Science Academy, 2131 W. Ina Road. At first, the woman thought the boy--a known prankster--was joking, the record said.
Later, the boy commented about being stationed in the closet a little more than 90 minutes by the same man, the female teacher alleged. This time, she said, she asked the boy if he was sincere.
At this point, about six other students reportedly claimed they had either been placed in the closet by the male teacher or had seen him put someone in it.
The female teacher informed authorities that both she and the male teacher's closets have desks in them. The students reportedly told her that they were shut in there with instructions not to sit down, turn on the light or open the door--which, she said, doesn't have a lock.
The woman told authorities a child developed asthma from, she believed, either being locked in the closet or being threatened with it. She reportedly expressed concern for all the children at the school.
The female teacher was given a case number and the phone number to the Criminal Investigations Division.u
Sonoran Science Academy even goes as far as threatening Lawsuits against anyone who speaks out against Sexually Harassment of Female students. Which by the way are follwers and cult members of Imam Mouhamad Fethullah Gulen .
Cerulean posted at 9:05 am on Mon, Dec 3, 2012.
It can be confusing to be a woman. It is always a conflict between chic and geek as pointed out by authors like Simone de Beauvoir or Caitlin Moran in her new book ‘How to be a Woman’. Our lives, our physiology is SO MUCH more complicated!
This promo for Lunafest a film fest for women film makers provides a good example: http://vimeo.com/47046613
Check out girl power @ http://girlpowerhour.com
With all that said, this letter by Carol S. Popovich is very important! There is nothing but good that can come from more women perusing higher degrees in math and science.
East Valley Tribune, Thank- you for printing a column worth reading.