6 Books Encouraging Women And Girls In STEM
We are naturally curious to understand how the world works. This curiosity is the spark of change and innovation. We start asking questions from a young age to make sense of things. We gasp at natural phenomena and marvel at advances in medicine, technology, and engineering. Why? Because STEM is fascinating and touches our lives more than we realize.
To further nurture our fascination with STEM and inspire women and girls to explore it, check out these books.
Her Space, Her Time: How Trailblazing Women Scientists Decoded the Hidden Universe by Dr. Shohini Ghose
Dr. Ghose, a quantum physicist, professor and advocate for DEI in science, shares stories of women scientists many of us don’t know. These women were largely overlooked in their time even though they made groundbreaking discoveries. Ghose includes details about the social context alongside the science in her book. By doing this, she highlights the dedication and persistence these women needed to succeed. Despite the challenges, inequities, and discrimination, they refused to give up. Ghose also includes stories from her own experiences to inspire and motivate women to persist.
Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have by Tatiana Schlossberg
If you’re interested in climate change and the environment but don’t know where to start, you might want to pick up this book. Written by a climate change and environmental journalist, the book explains how climate change isn’t isolated to the fossil fuel industry. It’s all around us. Schlossberg explores four areas and their impact on the environment: the Internet and technology, food, fashion, and fuel. She seeks to empower readers by showing how our daily habits impact the environment and what we can do about it.
She’s In CTRL: How Women Can Take Back Tech – to Communicate, Investigate, Problem-Solve, Broker Deals and Protect Themselves in a Digital World by Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon
Dr. Imafidon asks three important questions in her book:
- Why are women underrepresented in tech?
- Why does this matter?
- What can we do about it?
As a computer scientist and advocate for women in STEM, she explains how it’s men who make most of the decisions in technology. Women’s perspectives and experiences are often not taken into consideration. Imafidon shares tips on communicating, problem-solving, protecting yourself in the digital world, and steps to make tech work for you. She also includes stories about her and other women’s experiences in tech to help women feel empowered around technology.
The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam
If you prefer fiction, The Startup Wife is a satire about Silicon Valley’s startup culture and gender politics. Asha, the protagonist, is a talented coder and newlywed who goes to work at a tech incubator with her husband. They develop a new app and it becomes a runaway hit but Asha’s husband is the one who gets all the credit. Reviewers have called Anam’s novel a thought-provoking, hilarious, and insightful look at gender discrimination in the tech industry.
She Can STEM: 50 Trailblazing Women in Science from Ancient History to Today by Liz Lee Heinecke
Young girls and teens look for role models who look like them, act like them, or have similar interests. A lack of role models can be enough to discourage girls from pursuing certain careers. Liz Lee Heinecke’s book, She Can STEM, addresses this by providing girls with relatable role models from across STEM fields. She writes about their inspirations, challenges, and non-STEM interests to show anyone can go into STEM. Additionally, each biography includes an experiment so young readers can see real-world applications of the science.
Girls Garage: How to Use Any Tool, Tackle Any Project, and Build the World You Want to See by Amy Pilloton-Lam
STEM fields are all about innovation. Amy Pilloton-Lam, a designer, builder, educator, and founder of Girls’ Garage, believes the key to this is having the right tools to succeed. Her book includes tool guides, how-to projects, essential skills, and inspiring stories of girls and women who build. In her own words, “I wrote this book as an invitation for girls to put on their tool belts and build the world they want to see.”
