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"Girl Day" Encourages Young Women To Enter STEM Fields

telegraph.co.uk

Many educators, professionals, parents and students in Ohio are marking Girl Day today. The annual event is part of National Engineering Week, and encourages young females to pursue education and career paths in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Doctor Peggie Koon of Leading Change LLC says the gender gap in STEM fields is linked to parents raising girls to be caretakers, while boys are raised to pursue analytical paths. And says the field needs the diverse perspective woman offer.

The Labor Department says there were over eight million jobs in all STEM fields in 2014, but 25 percent were held by women. STEM professionals can get involved in Girl Day by inviting young women to shadow them at work, by mentoring a group of female students, or by speaking about engineering at a local school.

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.