Leaders creating equity in STEM education and access for women and girls

By Errika Moore, senior program officer

The cradle to career education community has had the opportunity to celebrate great highlights like International Women and Girls in Science Day earlier this month and National Engineers Week this week. These national “focus” days are an opportunity to highlight both the growth and opportunities in STEM education and the continued need for progress relative to the inequities and disparities that still exist. Because “potential and talent are equally distributed, but unfortunately opportunity is not.” But educational equity can be a catalyst that gives potential and talent equitable access to empowering educational opportunities.

When National Engineers Week was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) in 1951 they stated that “National Engineers Week is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers. For the past 70 years it has been dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to quality of life, promoting recognition among parents, teachers, and students of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy, and motivating youth to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce. Today “EWeek” is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and more than 50 corporations and government agencies.

These national and local efforts are needed. In 2012, minority women only held 11.2% of bachelor degrees in science and engineering, 8.2% of master’s degrees in science and engineering and 4.1% of doctorate degrees in science and engineering. A 2016 National Science Foundation report revealed that women remain underrepresented in the science and engineering workforce with the greatest disparities occurring in engineering, computer science and the physical sciences. And women make up half the total U.S. college-educated workforce, but only 29% of the science and engineering workforce.

Thankfully countless districts and specific schools now have STEM coordinators and administrators who are working diligently to mitigate the disparities and raise the mantle of STEM access and awareness for all in their communities. Many have the benefit and support of organizations in our metro Atlanta community who are equally focused on the drumbeat for change and equity in STEM education. We truly appreciate their collaborative commitment and efforts to balance the scales, to change the statistics, to change the narrative and to give “potential and talent equitable access to empowering educational opportunities.”

During this month of celebrating excellence in STEM, join us as we acknowledge organizations that are #makingadifferenceandmakinganimpact creating equity in STEM education and access.

Brown Toy Box
Girls Scouts of Greater Atlanta
HYPE
Inspiredu
Out Teach
STEM Gems
SEM Link (Science, Engineering, Math)
Science ATL and Chief Science Officers
STE(A)M Truck

Photo credit: ScienceATL, pre-COVID-19 image