Communications of the ACM
.s. State Department Tackles Gender Gap in STEM Participation
The U.S. Department of State is sponsoring initiatives to help address the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and math fields.
Credit: Erin Irwin/Education Week
The U.S. Department of State seeks to address the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields by sponsoring initiatives such as TechGirls, a summer program designed to bring girls from the Middle East and North Africa on visits to U.S. technology firms to support international STEM community-building. Participants take part in a coding camp at American University and community service activities.
The World Economic Forum estimates a much greater percentage of women in Middle Eastern and North African nations graduate with STEM degrees than in the U.S. Nour Atrissi, president of Lebanon's Teens Who Code academy, says a key impediment to proper STEM education in her country is a lack of emphasis on those subjects in school curricula. She also says TechGirls and similar programs cannot be successful without enabling students to explore the disciplines in which they are interested. TechGirls does this by having participants complete technology projects once they return home.
"By increasing opportunities for women and girls in the STEM fields, we are getting closer to realizing greater equality for women across the world and widening the pipeline for the next generation of female leaders," says Sarah Shields, the State Department's program officer for TechGirls.
From Education Week
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