Former astronaut Ellen Ochoa with the author’s daughter at the Sally Ride Science Festival.
Baker Institute fellow and former Johnson Space Center director George Abbey blogged yesterday about the annual Sally Ride Science Festival for young girls. Organized through the Rice Space Institute and its wonderful coordinator, Umbe Cantu, the event brings together young girls and women scientists and engineers; the goal is to demystify science and encourage girls to one day become scientists and engineers themselves.
Like George Abbey, I also look forward to the festival, where I have volunteered since its inception in 2006. This year, for the first time, I was able to take my four-year-old daughter, Kaitlin, to help. (She is too young to participate since the festival is aimed at fifth to eighth grade girls.) Through Kaitlin, I experienced the enthusiasm, awe and wonder of science from a young girl’s perspective. She saw a NASA moon rock and discovered that — unlike the Wallace & Gromit cartoon “A Grand Day Out” — it is, in fact, not made of cheese. Kaitlin also decided that she would be the second woman on the moon, after meeting a NASA scientist and hearing another girl announce that she would be first. In addition, she got to talk to the keynote speaker, Ellen Ochoa — the first Hispanic woman to fly in space — as well as other scientists and engineers who volunteered for the event.
The goal of the festival is to improve the number of women entering the science and engineering workforce. While more women are becoming scientists and engineers, a significant gender gap remains, especially compared to other professions. In 2006, less than 20 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering were awarded to women, according to the National Science Foundation. Only in chemical engineering did women earn over a third of the bachelor’s degrees conferred. In many areas of science (life sciences and chemistry excluded), less than half of the undergraduate degrees were earned by women, though they represented the majority of college students on campus. In none of the science and engineering fields did women comprise the majority of doctoral degrees awarded in 2006.
Other fields of study, including medicine, law and business, have relative gender balance, but science and engineering continue to lag behind. Fewer women in science deny our country of the talents and insights of untold thousands. With the United States starting to experience a shortage of scientists and engineers, engaging and encouraging women would help improve the workforce outlook.
The Sally Ride Science Festival focuses on fifth through eighth graders because many girls at this age begin to lose interest in science. In addition, they may start to pick up on messages from television, a teacher, a parent, or other children that science is only for boys. Interacting with women scientists and engineers gives girls role models and helps them visualize themselves in similar jobs. Smaller workshop sessions at the festival give girls an opportunity to meet the scientists and engineers directly, as well as learn what various jobs entail.
I plan to continue volunteering for the Sally Ride Science Festival each year and bring Kaitlin along until she is old enough to participate herself. While she might not choose to follow in her parents’ footsteps — I have a Ph.D. in biology and my husband is an engineer — I want her to understand all of the opportunities open to her, and not let gender determine her path.
Kirstin Matthews is a fellow in science and technology policy at the Baker Institute. Her research focuses on the intersection between traditional biomedical research and public policy. Matthews’ current projects include the Baker Institute International Stem Cell Policy Program, the Civic Scientist Lecture Series and policy studies in research and development funding, genomics and climate change.