When I was a young girl, I thought I could do anything. I could be an astronaut, a lawyer, or even the president, and nothing was going to  stop me. As I grew older, I realized it wasn’t going to be so simple. Girls and women all over the world have gone through the same thing that I did, where they didn’t feel like they could do what they wanted. STEM was and still is to some extent, a male-dominated field, women have always faced unfair odds and it still exists today. Throughout Elementary school, there were always small things I did that boys were told not to do, or things boys did that I was told not to do. I never understood why. Eventually when I got to middle school it became second nature to categorize everything as a ‘boy thing’ or a ‘girl thing,’ and while I inherently knew that everyone should be able to do what they want without having to be labelled I  was self-conscious in doing things that were against stereotypes. Gender norms hovered in the back of my mind – I knew they were there and I experienced them, but that didn’t affect me –until I reached high school.

High school marked a time when  every decision I made would impact the rest of my life. High school meant figuring out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It also meant that my interests would be judged because of  my gender. In my freshman year, I decided that I wanted to explore STEM and there were approximately half of my female classmates who thought the same. In my sophomore year, I decided that I wanted to pursue engineering, and the number of female students dropped to just me.

Why is it that such a low number of girls are pursuing science? The finger can’t be pointed at any one issue, but instead should be directed at the culmination of centuries of rigid gender norms, prejudice, ignorance, and sexism. I personally became interested in science, because I had a role model in my life; My Mother. She was able to attend one of the best universities in China for computer science despite growing up in one of the poorest areas of the country. She then had the opportunity to further her education in the United States, where she worked as a waitress to support herself. Entering such a male dominated field didn’t faze her, but instead motivated her to work harder.

I am fortunate to have such a strong female role model to show me that I can be anything I want, and that my gender doesn’t matter. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough female role models in STEM fields for the billions of girls across the world.

The women who do go into STEM endure the struggles that men face and more. They come out on the other end beat down by hoops to jump through with even less prospects and opportunity than their male counterparts. Girls are less likely to explore STEM as a legitimate, viable option for their futures not just because of societal perceptions of STEM, but also because of how these perceptions influence people's’ opinions and actions towards women in STEM. Sure, these struggles are slowly improving, and universities and companies select women to show that they’re diverse and accepting of women in STEM. But there has to be a genuine change in the collective mindset, where women explore science and are chosen because of their capabilities not for publicity to show some kind of false improvement.

We have entered the age of freedom. Freedom to do what we want, freedom to be who we are. Yet, there are still many indirect roadblocks stopping young girls from exploring STEM.

Adults, schools, and communities encourage us to be what we want, however we are not told how to overcome these roadblocks. Lessening gender disparity in STEM isn’t just the responsibility of young girls; the responsibility lies on society, governments, and leaders of the world who have the power to encourage and inspire change by electing women into positions of power. Education is crucial to providing girls with the equal opportunity to explore anything that interests them and to have support to do so. Societal change is crucial to changing the stigma surrounding STEM as not being appropriate for girls and women so that girls will feel comfortable and welcome in these subjects. It’s been said time and time again that scientific innovation is the way of the future, and everyone needs to be a part of it.