Women still don't have equal access to science and education. Let's change that.

Take a close look at the picture above from the 1911 Solvay Conference in Brussels. The most amazing thing about that photo isn't that Marie Curie is the only woman in it; the most amazing thing about it is that Marie Curie is in the photo at all.

When Marie Curie was in her early twenties, most universities in Europe didn't admit women. She had to travel from Warsaw to Paris, with the meager funds she had saved up working as a governess, to enroll in the Sorbonne, one of the few European universities that permitted women to earn degrees. She was considered an oddity most of her career because women were not supposed to be in science or business. She was not permitted to present her scientific papers at the Academy of Sciences; she had to have men present them for her. She was even almost denied a Nobel Prize because of her gender -- the committee wanted to give it to her husband, Pierre Curie, instead. At his insistence they included her in the award, and she would go on to become not only the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, but also the first person to win a Nobel Prize in two different fields (you can read more about Marie Curie in my book, Quirky).

If you think that kind of discrimination is ancient history, think again. It's easy to forget just how recently women began to gain equal access to education and science. Take a look at the timeline below. It wasn't until 1972 that the US banned sexual discrimination in higher education!

Our work here is not done. There are still many countries where women and girls do not have equal access to education, science, or business. There are even countries where large numbers of girls are not even getting a primary school education (see below).

That's a huge loss for all of us. Educated women have more options, they contribute more to the economic development of a country, and they raise more educated children. Allowing women to go uneducated is not just unfair; it is squandering a precious and vital resource.

We can change this. Spread the word, stay informed, and get engaged with programs that help ensure that all women and girls get education. Here's a list of programs to get you started -- pick one or a few and reach out to them. You can make a difference.

Programs dedicated to helping educate women and girls around the world

Afghan Institute of Learning

Operates schools and other programs for women and girls in Afghanistan and in the border areas of Pakistan.

Akili Dada

Dedicated to providing secondary education scholarships, peer/mentorship and leadership training to ensure that the next generation of Kenya's leaders includes women from diverse economic backgrounds.

Asian University for Women

Focuses on educating women from impoverished and less-fortunate nations to help them become the leaders of tomorrow. 98% of its students are enrolled on full scholarship.

BRAC

A Bangladesh-based aid group that recently made a commitment to provide empowering educational opportunities for the most disadvantaged children, especially girls, on a significant scale in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Southern Sudan.

Camfed

An international non-profit that has supported more than 1 million African girls, so that they may attend both primary and secondary school.

CARE

Works alongside communities, governments and partner organizations at many levels in about 50 countries to address all aspects of basic education, including training teachers and other school personnel to improve the quality of education.

Central Asia Institute

Founded by Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson, CAI promotes and supports community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Commit2Change

Aims to educate girls in orphanages in India. It works with carefully selected local partners who rescue and rehabilitate at-risk girls and invest in initiatives to give them a chance.

Develop Africa

Works to establish meaningful and sustainable development in Africa, through capacity building empowerment, and transformational education.

Developments in Literacy

Dedicated to providing quality education to disadvantaged children, especially girls, by establishing and operating schools in the underdeveloped regions of Pakistan, with a strong focus on gender equality and community participation.

Educate Girls Globally

Promotes the education of girls in developing countries.

EDUGirls

Focuses on the education of impoverished girls in the slums of India and works to put girls through all levels of education, including high school and college.

EMpower

Provides grants that contribute to children's education around the globe, and aims to eliminate gender inequality in education by the year 2030.

Friends Pakistan

Contributes to providing girls living in Pakistan with the opportunity to acquire an education, and helps to insure that they receive more than just a primary school education.

The Girl Effect

The powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate. It's an untapped force in the fight against poverty, and it's driven by champions around the globe: the Nike Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, the UN Foundation, the Coalition for Adolescent Girls, CARE, Plan, the Population Council, ICRW and the Center for Global Development—and many others.

Girl Up

A campaign of the United Nations Foundation, gives American girls the opportunity to raise awareness and funds for UN programs that help some of the world's hardest-to-reach adolescent girls.

Girls Education International

Dedicated to expanding and supporting educational opportunities for under-served females in remote and undeveloped regions of the world.

Girls Learn International, Inc.

The GLI program supports the empowerment of students to create real solutions that address the obstacles facing girls and women around the world.

Global Campaign for Education

A civil society movement whose mission is to make sure that governments act now to deliver the right of every girl, boy, woman and man to a free quality public education.

The Global Fund for Children

Provides capital to strengthen innovative community-based organizations serving the most vulnerable children and youth, complemented by a dynamic media program that, through books, documentary photography, and film, highlights the issues affecting children.

Global Fund for Women

Makes grants to organizations around the world that provide access to both informal and formal education for women and girls, paying particular attention to the needs of girls and women in minority and marginalized communities.

Going to School

Creates magical media to inspire children to change their lives by going to school in India.Blog

Madaworks

Provides scholarships for girls to go to high school and supports women's sustainable economic development in Madagascar.

Malala Fund

Wants to see a world where every girl can complete 12 years of free, safe, quality education.Follow Malala's Girl Power Trip where she travels the world to meet girls and learn about their fight to go to school.

Mama Cash

The oldest international women's fund. Supports pioneering and innovative women's initiatives in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Commonwealth of Independent States, believing that social change starts with women and girls.

Massai Girls Education Fund

Created to improve the literacy, health and economic well-being of Maasai women in Kenya and their families through education of girls and their communities.

Mercy Corps

Works to bring access to education to women and men of all ages and economic groups to help ensure a better future for all.

New Light Foundation

Provides educational and healthcare opportunities, recreational facilities, and safe shelter for the children of Kolkata, India sex workers, particularly the daughters.

Nurturing Minds

A U.S.-based non-profit that collaborates with the SEGA School, a residential secondary school for bright, motivated Tanzanian girls who otherwise are unable to attend school due to extreme poverty.

Plan International USA

Works in partnership with local leaders and organizations to provide girls with practical, non-formal education in countries around the world.

Room To Read

Seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in low-income countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education.

She's the First

Dedicated to supporting girls who will be the first in their families to graduate from high school in areas such as Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

Shining Hope For Communities

Combats gender inequality and extreme poverty in urban Kenyan slums by linking tuition-free schools for girls to holistic social services for all.

Tinkle

Helps underprivileged girls living in rural India to build their confidence in education, creativity, and life after school through after-school programs.

Vital Voices

Through its Rising Voices initiative for young women, Vital Voices is committed to equipping thousands more girls with the education, mentorship, and support to assert their potential as agents of change.

WISER (Women's Institute of Secondary Education)

Holistically improves health and educational outcomes for girls living in Kenya, particularly those orphaned by AIDS. Also works with local communities to change how girls are valued.

World Assistance to Cambodia

Has a program to subsidize poor girls so that they can remain in school.