Innovations such as self-driving cars, drones, artificial intelligence, crypto currencies, high-quality online education, and computerized medicine are opening up an abundance of new opportunities that require skilled technologists to develop and operate them.
Could you be one of them? Unfortunately, we have not marketed science, technology, engineering and Math to girls, and in turn, the numbers of women in technology is too small for an increasingly important driver of the world’s economy.
To start changing this, I’m inviting Teen girls to take a selfie with a ribbon, headscarf, bandana or with the image below, but you might want to do your own (or perhaps just your best Rosie power pose – see image below) and share it with the hashtags #RivetingSTEM, #Rocking Ur Teens or #IWD– invite your friends and family to do the same.
All you need to say is “Let’s get more girls and young women into science, technology, engineering and math – they’re the world’s future innovators”. “Or, Yes we STEM!”
During World War II, the original Rosie the Riveter campaign motivated 19 million American women to either join the workforce for the first time or shift careers towards higher-paying roles that were traditionally reserved for men. Thanks to Rosie’s “We can do it!” attitude, they built aircrafts, munitions, and other goods of immediate importance towards the war effort.
Naturally, the world’s moved on, and Rosie was a hero for a different era. But we do need a marketing campaign on the same scale. Help get behind that drive and get more girls and young women studying STEM subjects. I look forward to seeing your selfies, like mine shown above with my daughter.
You can read about my ‘Rosie’ campaign to create a massive all-encompassing marketing campaign in The Hill and on Thomson Reuters’ official blog Answers On. Check out ‘RivetingSTEM’ to join us on LinkedIn.
By Katherine Manuel, SVP Innovation, Thomson Reuters
Look out for our selfies on the @RockingUrTeens social media accounts on International Women’s Day, the 8th March, when we will be hosting our Teen Girls Empowerment Conference at NatWest
