The week of Feb. 19-25 was National Engineers Week, and the MSU Women in Engineering Recruitment organization and the College of Engineering celebrated by hosting their second annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day on Feb. 27.
The event was held at the Engineering Building and girls fourth through eighth grade had the opportunity to participate in various hands-on activities to learn more about science, technology, engineering and math.
The girls had the chance to go into the Engineering Building classrooms and create slime, design foil boats, test pH levels of various liquids and explore facial recognition technology among other activities.
“I really like science,” seventh grader participant Caitlyn Shaw said. “I like how we get to build things and do challenges and learn about science.”
According to the Census Bureau’s 2009 American Community Survey, women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S. economy, yet hold less than 25 percent of all science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, jobs. That number has not changed significantly within the last decade.
“There’s approximately 500 girls here today,” Women in Engineering ambassador Kristin Lauzon said. “(The event) gives a chance for young girls to get their first step into the STEM world and see the cool things that science can do.”
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, engineers are the second-largest STEM occupational group, but only about 1/7 engineers is female.
“I think it’s really important to start young and give kids exposure to this world that they may not know so much about,” Women in Engineering ambassador Anneka Hart said. “You go to school every day and you see a teacher, you see a nurse, it’s very easy to visualize. You don’t always know exactly what an engineer does or what a scientist does, so I think it’s really important to show kids the things they can access through STEM that they might not know about.”
There has been a push in recent years to level out the STEM playing field by trying to spur interest in the STEM industry in younger girls. As the need for science and engineering jobs continue to rise, emphasis will be placed on including women in the labor pool. When women are not involved in science and engineering, experiences and needs that are unique to women could be ignored.
The U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration states that there are many possible factors contributing to the lack of women in STEM careers, including: a lack of female role models, gender stereotyping and less family-friendly flexibility in the STEM fields.
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