My Solution to the Gender Gap in STEM: Start a STEM Gems Club in Your Community!

It’s no secret that there’s a gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. Less than a quarter of the STEM workforce is women, and women earn only 18 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering and 19 percent of bachelor’s degrees in computer science. With an increasingly high-tech society, a career in STEM offers an opportunity to change the world, help people, and make a difference—all of which girls say is important for them in choosing a career. As one of the 18 percent (and one of the 3 percent of women of color who earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering) and as a mother to a young daughter, I wrote STEM Gems: How 44 Women Shine in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, And How You Can Too! to inspire girls and young women, including my own daughter, to pursue opportunities in STEM that impact the world. 

STEM Gems has enjoyed an amazing launch nationwide. For the past year, the STEM Gems book, outreach programs, panel discussions, social media interactions, and speaking engagements have ignited a movement to connect girls and young women to STEM careers, STEM women, and a latent passion for science, technology, engineering, and math. But these efforts are only the beginning.

In order for passions to take root and fully emerge, the structure of opportunity must be present. The STEM Gems book is the first step, but for the text to be most impactful, its content must be revisited and incorporated into the everyday lives of young women. With 44 role models in 44 diverse STEM careers, the STEM Gems book gives girls current examples of what is possible in STEM for any girl. These STEM Gems help to ignite the spark from within, but what if the single-most important influencers in a maturing girl’s life—her peers—nurtured that spark? What if a young woman who had the potential to change the world surrounded herself with role models, mentors, and with other young women who believed in her? And what if a young woman who questioned her potential to change the world surrounded herself with other young women who believed in her?

STEM Gems believes that when girls and young women come together and form a tribe, anything is possible—especially STEM greatness. You can’t be what you can’t see.

Imagine a place where girls converge on a regular basis and are empowered to take on new challenges, to learn it’s okay to make mistakes, to learn from failures, to speak up and speak out, to exhibit bravery instead of perfection, to take calculated risks, to reject boredom. To explore beyond what they believed possible. Such a special place would be a portal to the future—theirs and ours.

A STEM Gems Club is such a place.

Think traditional book club for tween and teen girls that focuses on STEM careers, current role models, and opportunity. As part of a STEM Gems Club, young women dive into inspirational stories of triumph, struggle, accomplishment, failure, perseverance, drive, ambition, goal-setting, and vision while also reflecting on oneself. Then with their tribe, they discuss, explore, reflect, and act.

With the guidance of an enthusiastic adult ambassador, such as a teacher or parent or community leader, and the material and support of an entire community of STEM Gems behind them, STEM Gems Clubs provide that structure of opportunity for girls (boys are welcome, too!) to regularly engage in STEM conversations, to explore their potential, and to open their minds to a world of opportunity. STEM Gems Clubs unite young women under one purpose—to change the world with science, technology, engineering and math.

Join the STEM Gems movement in a new and unprecedented way. Start a club at your school, organization, or community group today. The next tribe of STEM Gems is waiting!

Stephanie Espy is the author of STEM Gems, founder of MathSP, MIT/UC Berkeley/Emory graduate, chemical engineer, and mother to a young daughter.