She has flown in space four times, logging nearly 1,000 hours in orbit. Ellen Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

During her tenure at Harvey Mudd College, her work has helped support the Computer Science faculty's ability to innovate, and has raised the percentage of women majoring in computer science from less than 15 percent to more than 40 percent today. Klawe is now the first female president of Harvey Mudd College and works hard to ignite passion about STEM fields amongst diverse groups. Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd Collegeĭespite growing up as a self-described outcast, Maria Klawe pursed her passion for technology and became a prominent computer scientist. Be it molecular biology or data science, these women have shown that true passion for their work can mean changing the game! Here we highlight a few of them: 1. There are many women who have broken the glass ceiling in the STEM fields. Despite being systematically tracked away from STEM subjects, women in engineering and women in science careers are making considerable strides in STEM fields. The gender gaps are even higher in the workforce, especially in careers like computer science, engineering, and many jobs of the future. In college, men consistently outnumber women in most STEM fields. Women only make up 28% of the current STEM workforce. STEM is a direct response to the realization that our future will be built on our capacity for innovation, invention, and creative problem solving.” History of Women in STEM STEM emphasizes collaboration, communication, research, problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity, skills that students need to be successful in today’s world regardless of specific interests or career goals. According to Britannica, STEM “moves beyond simple test performance and focuses on developing higher level thinking skills by connecting classroom learning to the real world. STEM education varies from school to school and depends on each student’s learning style and interest. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This year’s STEM topic, “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Water Unites Us,” is one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) - Clean Water and Sanitation.

The UN set this day aside to promote equal access to employment and empower women and girls to pursue careers in these fields.Įach year, the UN highlights a specific area of need or concern. To draw awareness to the inequality, give women and girls greater access to science, and empower them to create change in these areas, the United Nations declared 11 February as International Day of Women and Girls in Science. International Day of Women and Girls in Science It’s their goal to give women stronger voices within these fields and offer the recognition and compensation that go along with many of these careers. In addition to exploring this underrepresentation in STEM, scholars are looking for ways to rectify the inequality. Even though we’ve seen some positive progress, women in STEM are still highly underrepresented. Yet, since their origins in the 18th century, these fields have remained predominantly male. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields are some of the most progressive and invaluable areas of study.

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