12 STEM Resources For Young Women
Trying to fuel a young woman's interest in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics? These 12 organizations actively help students pursue STEM-related careers.
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Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, eBay, and others recently released diversity reports, and the revelations weren't exactly shocking: The tech industry is dominated by white males. These reports have spurred discussions and recriminations.
Adding fuel to the fire is the issue of pay inequality for women and men working in IT. According to the InformationWeek 2014 US IT Salary Survey, the median total compensation for a female IT staffer is $81,000. For male counterparts it's $94,000, a difference of $13,000. That's a significant gap. And it's echoed in compensation for managers, with median total compensation for men at $122,000, versus $110,000 for women.
Even so, according to a 2011 report from the US Department of Commerce, women with STEM jobs earned 33% more than comparable women in non-STEM jobs -- considerably higher than the STEM premium for men. That means the gender wage gap is smaller in STEM jobs than in non-STEM jobs.
Other findings from the report were grim:
Although women fill close to half of all jobs in the US economy, they hold less than 25% of STEM jobs. This has been the case throughout the past decade, even as college-educated women have increased their share of the overall workforce.
Women hold a disproportionately low share of STEM undergraduate degrees, particularly in engineering.
Women with a STEM degree are less likely than their male counterparts to work in a STEM occupation. They are more likely to work in education or healthcare.
As educators, government officials, technology executives, and women's groups discuss these issues, a growing number of grassroots organizations are looking to encourage young women to pursue STEM so they can be part of the next generation of tech workers. Here we highlight 12 of these organizations. If you're a tech executive looking to do something about the gender gap, one of these groups could present an opportunity to volunteer your time to help educate and mentor young women and girls. If you'd like to encourage your own daughter to explore STEM opportunities, these organizations can help.
Let us know what you think. Are these organizations on the right track? Are there other groups you wish we'd included? What are your ideas for how to bridge the technology gender gap?
The National Girls Collaborative Project brings together organizations throughout the US that are committed to informing and encouraging girls to pursue STEM careers. The organization comprises 31 networks of professionals, researchers, and practitioners covering 39 states and facilitating collaboration between 12,800 organizations that serve 8.35 million girls and 4.5 million boys. A list of upcoming events can be found here. You can learn more about getting involved with NGCP here.
Looking to make engineering fun, 30 girls in the Chicago area are participating in the Icebox Derby, competing to build race cars out of refrigerators provided by utility company ComEd's refrigerator recycling program. The Icebox Derby ends August 23 with a race outside the Field Museum. Each team must complete five laps at speeds up to 15 mph. The teams can stop along the track to deal with technical issues or change drivers. The company is working with the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, Girls4Science, and the Chicago Urban League on the project, according to The Chicago Sun Times.
When you think Girl Scouts, you might think Thin Mints or Samoas. But the organization also offers an extensive array of STEM initiatives for girls, many of which are sponsored by tech companies. These include Imagine: Your STEM Future (funded by AT&T) and Imagine Engineering (funded by the National Science Foundation). Both programs offer girls from low-income and underserved communities the chance to experience STEM and plan for futures in STEM fields. Initiatives such as the FIRST Robotics teams (funded by Motorola, UTC, and Google) and the Journey and Connect Through Technology initiatives (funded by Dell) give girls access to materials and mentors so they can explore fields such as robotics and information technology in depth.
You might not expect to see a cosmetics company on this list. But let's face it -- all those potions and lotions are basically the result of science and technology. That's why cosmetics company L'Oreal launched forgirlsinscience.org. The site aims to connect girls who love science and give them the chance to learn about women in STEM fields. It includes resources such as a list of summer science camps for girls and the opportunity for STEM-enthusiasts to blog about their experiences.
The Austin, Texas-based organization Girlstart provides a year-round, intensive suite of STEM education programs for K-12 girls. The organization's core offerings include after-school programs, summer camps, and an annual Girls in STEM conference. As of 2013, Girlstart had 623 educators participating in its programs. The Girls in STEM Conference in 2013 had 576 attendees, and 586 girls attended 22 summer camps. In addition, 918 girls participated in 42 after-school programs in 11 school districts. Interested volunteers can learn more here.
Founded in 1881, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) provides STEM education to more than 11,000 girls each year at the branch, state, and national levels. According to the organization's website, its national STEM camps and conferences target middle-school girls because middle school is a critical time for girls to maintain their interest in STEM and begin taking courses that will lead to future STEM opportunities. AAUW is currently accepting applications for locations for its 2015 Tech Trek summer camp program. AAUW will select sites in three new states to host a camp in 2015, for a total of 10 national camps, in addition to 10 camps hosted by AAUW of California. The deadline to apply is September 1.
The National 4-H Council is working with the Million Women Mentors (MWM) initiative to engage one million science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) mentors -- male and female -- to increase the interest and confidence of girls and young women to pursue and succeed in STEM degrees and careers. This is just one of the many programs offered by the 4-H Council, which provides STEM and mentoring programs across the US in partnership with more than 100 universities.
Founded in 1994, the Science Club for Girls (SCFG) has been connecting girls in grades K-12, especially those from under-represented groups, with female-mentor scientists through free science and engineering programs. More than 1,000 girls participate annually in SCFG programs in five cities in eastern Massachusetts (Cambridge, Lawrence, Boston, Newton, and Fitchburg), as well as in Pokuase, Ghana. Programs include free after-school science clubs that explore subjects such as archaeology, chemistry, engineering, environmental science, and physics, and also the Show Me Science program, a reverse science fair in which adults present to children and their families. If you're interested in volunteering with the organization, click here.
STEM is among the offerings of Girls, Incorporated, a 50-year-old nonprofit organization "dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold." The Girls, Inc. Operation SMART program offers hands-on activities that enable girls to explore, ask questions, and solve problems by interacting with women and men who are pursuing STEM careers. In June, the organization kicked off the Made With Code initiative as part of a partnership that also includes Google, Chelsea Clinton, Girl Scouts of the USA, MIT, the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), and others. Girls Inc. will host coding parties reaching thousands of girls with an introduction to coding, building upon programming where girls explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as part of their lives and potential career options. An intensive coding program will also be piloted in early 2015.
Made With Code is just one of the STEM initiatives from The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). In June, the organization announced that it had received funding from the Clinton Global Initiative America to engage 10,000 middle-school girls in learning computing concepts. The funding will help the organization scale its piloted NCWIT AspireIT initiative, which enlists technical high school or college women in designing and leading computing programs for younger girls. This innovative "near-peer" approach allows young women to become role models and build leadership skills while encouraging younger girls to pursue computing, according to the organization. The NCWIT AspireIT pilot has launched 70 programs, providing an estimated 115,000 hours of computing education to over 2,000 girls in 23 states. NCWIT will engage 600 high school and college members of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing program and 250 partner organizations to co-create and deliver 400 computing-focused after-school programs for middle-school girls across the country through 2018.
Black Girls Code, launched in 2011, aims to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages seven to seventeen to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology, according to the organization's website. The organization hosts "build a game in a day" events in cities nationwide. The next event, scheduled for August 16 in Oakland, Calif., will give girls the chance to create games using SCRATCH, an open source software that enables players to create digital stories easily.
Women@NASA has created a virtual mentoring project that offers online mentoring to middle-school students across the country. Students are mentored by a NASA employee using Skype or Google Chat. Engineers, accountants, scientists, and astronauts teach online lessons. Enrollment is in May and June, and the five-week program runs through July and early August. In addition, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center offers a five-day Summer Institute in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Research (SISTER) to provide opportunities for middle-school girls to explore nontraditional career fields with research scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.
Women@NASA has created a virtual mentoring project that offers online mentoring to middle-school students across the country. Students are mentored by a NASA employee using Skype or Google Chat. Engineers, accountants, scientists, and astronauts teach online lessons. Enrollment is in May and June, and the five-week program runs through July and early August. In addition, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center offers a five-day Summer Institute in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Research (SISTER) to provide opportunities for middle-school girls to explore nontraditional career fields with research scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.
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