International Day Of Women And Girls In Science

Every year on February 11th, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science seeks to promote full and equal access for women and girls to participate in science. It’s also a day to recognize the role that women and girls play in science and technology.

Only 35 percent of all students enrolled in fields pertaining to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) are women. Recent studies also show that women in these fields are usually paid less than men. Even though there may not be as many women in science and technology, their discoveries and research are just as important. Take a look at the following women who have rocked the STEM world:

• Tiera Guinn – this young scientist from MIT is an aerospace major who is helping to build a rocket for NASA.
• Marie Curie – this physicist and chemist was the head of the physics lab at a European University who went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1903 with her husband.
• Elizabeth Blackwell – in 1849, she was the first woman to graduate from medical school in the United States.
• Mae C. Jemison – She was a medical doctor and astronaut, who in 1992, became the first African American woman in space.
• Gertrude Elion – Born in 1918, she was a Nobel winner who developed drugs to treat leukemia and prevent kidney transplant rejection.

International Day Of Women And Girls In Science History

In March of 2011, the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women concluded that women and girls around the world needed more access to education and training in science and technology. Women and girls also needed equal access to gaining employment in these fields. On December 20, 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that recognized these findings. On December 22, 2015, the UN proclaimed February 11th as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

5 WOMEN IN SCIENCE YOU SHOULD KNOW

1. ​Katherine Johnson

   ​From Hidden Figures fame, Johnson was a mathematician calculating orbital mechanics for NASA and was critical to the first crewed spaceflight.

2. ​Lillian Gilbreth

   Considered to be the first industrial/organizational psychologist and “America’s first lady of engineering”, Gilbreth was also one of the first American female engineers to earn a Ph.D. and the first female engineering professor at Purdue University.

3. ​Ruth Benerito

   ​Ruth Benerito was an American chemist and inventor who held 55 patents; her most notable invention was wash and wear cotton fabrics.

4. ​Edith Clarke

   During her career with General Electric in the 1920s, Clarke became the first American woman professionally employed as an electrical engineer as well as the first female electrical engineering professor in the country.

5. Rachel Carson

   ​Carson’s book, Silent Spring, brought attention to the use of pesticides in America which led to changes in our pesticide policies and, through enhanced conservationism, ultimately led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SCIENCE DATES