Women in Science - NASA's Jill McGuire

Every morning, the DC metro area National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate, WAMU, is what wakes me up when my alarm clock radio goes off. As a result, the other organizers have grown accustomed to me relating the little tidbits I learn every morning. "This morning on NPR there was this really interesting story on (insert factoid, current event, local politics, etc. here)..."

Well. My feminist self got a thrill yesterday morning, as I stumbled around my apartment getting ready. I was listening to a story about preparations being made for a repair mission to the Hubble Telescope, and how they need all these various special tools to repair the aging telescope in zero g's, extreme temps, etc. Come to find out, the manager of the team that creates all these clever gizmos and gadgets is a woman named Jill McGuire!

So I started thinking about something we don't talk about enough - Women (and Girls!) in STEM fields - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Though these fields have been non-traditionally 'female' sectors, there's been some promising growth in recent years. Thanks to some friends at AAUW, I drummed up some research and information I'd like to share!

Some stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show differences in participation between women and men among some related categories: in computer and mathematical occupations, women make up only 24.8% of jobs in that field. Architecture and engineering is even lower, with women holding only 13.5% of jobs. In life, physical, and social science occupations, women seem to be doing better at 46.1%, although there are considerable differences within that category.

Fortunately, some progress has been made. From 1985-2005, the percentage of women earning degrees in STEM fields increased in nearly every category, with the exception of computer science.

It's really great to see women breaking into new fields and taking leadership there - whether it's at NASA or in your high school physics lab! If you're a woman in a STEM field, please comment below about your experience.

If you're interested in learning more about Women in STEM, AAUW and their partners are collaborating on the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) to bring together organizations that are committed to informing and encouraging girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Definitely check it out and forward the information on to any people or programs you know that might be interested!

Thanks so much to Nicole Callahan and the other folks at AAUW for all their help with collecting some information for this post.