Huntsville takes lead in women’s STEM interest

On Sunday Huntsville played a big role in creating equal opportunities for women by changing the mindset surrounding the STEM workforce. 

Research shows minority women make up fewer than one in 10 of the employed scientists and engineers in the country. 

“Believe in yourself and you can be whatever you want to be,” said nine-year old Elizabeth Murphy at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

You may have heard that before, but how about directed to hundreds of little girls and talking about aerospace engineering? The new American Girl doll Luciana Vega is a Chilean-American astronaut, an example of a race and gender minorities in the fields.

According to National Girls Collaborative Project, women make up half of the college-educated workforce, but less than 30 percent of the science and engineering workforce.

“There were not a lot of female role models that I had growing up,” said aerospace engineer Tiera Fletcher. “I did not even hear about Katherine Johnson until I got into college. It was really difficult to see myself in such a space as far as aerospace engineering.”

That’s where Luciana comes in. Experts say to create equal opportunities for women in STEM fields there needs to be interest at a young age and role models.

A study published in the Harvard Business Review says gender bias pushes women out of STEM. Roots are taking hold in Huntsville to change that and the girls are listening.

“I think that it’s important that girls know that they can do anything even if the boys tell them that they can’t do it,” said Murphy.

“Just showing girls that, ‘hey you know what there are not many of us, you can go ahead and add to that and make it a ton of us in the STEM fields,'” said Fletcher. “We can do great, powerful things for the world.”

Luciana’s story takes place at Space Camp in Huntsville. Former NASA astronauts spoke to the crowd of people at the USSRC event.