Use #WomenInScience to celebrate IDWGS

International Day of Women and Girls in Science (IDWGS) happens every year on Feb. 11 to promote equality for women in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields. The purpose of this day is to celebrate women’s STEM achievements and promote gender equality. The date was declared by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 and has happened annually since. 

IDWGS matters because women are generally underrepresented in STEM careers. Only 30% of researchers in the world are women. Women are statistically less likely to pursue STEM degrees. The STEM degrees with the fewest female representation are engineering and computer science. 

The theme of this year’s IDWGS is “Redefining STEM by Closing the Gender Gap.” The theme was chosen by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the hybrid event will be hosted at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. 

Santa Barbara High School (SBHS) has been recognized for being inclusive with many STEM teachers on campus being women, such as , and a large majority of top students in STEM subjects also being female.

Santa Barbara Unified School District leading chemistry teacher, Megan Poster, said, “Women in science is especially important to me,” because of the stigma around taking her kids to the doctors office and, “expecting the doctor to be a man and the nurse to be a woman.” Poster wants her kids to, “grow up in a world where there isn’t that stigma.” She also talked about how she heavily disliked high school chemistry and how her teacher at the time, “ruined chemistry for me for a decade” which only went on to inspire her to teach chemistry and dedicate herself to doing a better job for her students.

SBHS sophomore Alice Sweeney said her interest in science was natural due to her parents being STEM focused and growing up around that environment.  She believes, “Women in STEM is important because everyone should be able to be in STEM, not just a select group.” Her role models in STEM are her sister who studies computer science and her mom, a doctor. 

Sophomore Makenna Innocenti also said that women in STEM are role models and inspiring. “I think female teachers show students, women can succeed in STEM…having successful female teachers shows students that they can also succeed.”

Although there are currently no events for IDWGS in Santa Barbara, using hashtags like #WomenInScience or #EveryVoiceInScience and encouraging young women to get involved in STEM are ways to advocate for IDWGS.