These 3 High-Tech Toys Help Teach Girls to Stick with Science
As the late great James Brown once sang, “It’s a man’s man’s man’s world.” And while that may no longer hold true for society in general, the Godfather of Soul remains spot on when it comes to high tech.
According to the National Science Foundation, there are nearly five male engineers for every female one employed in the United States. This is even more true in Silicon Valley, where companies struggle to reach the 20 percent mark. Take my employer, for example. At Yahoo, where the CEO is both a woman and an engineer, men in technical positions still outnumber their female counterparts by more than four to one.
For the past few years we’ve seen a concerted effort to equalize the numbers by attracting girls to the so-called hard sciences, usually referred to as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). And it’s coming from some surprising places. Earlier this month, Lego released a $20 Research Institute playset featuring three female scientist mini-figures, which immediately sold out.
Lego did this in part to quell the outcry from the “Friends” playsets the Danish company released in 2012, which featured female mini-figures who spend their time baking cupcakes, going to the mall, and modeling clothes. But they also did it because toys that appeal to a girl’s inner geek are going mainstream in a big way.
No cupcakes or catwalks here, just a Lego-sized astronomer, paleontologist, and chemist busy being scientific.
Unlike traditional building sets or electronics kits, these toys are (mostly) designed with girls in mind. The idea is to reinforce their excitement for building cool stuff before they become addicted to Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and spend all their parents’ money on K stars (don’t ask).
I talked to the founders of three companies who’ve created toys to combat gender stereotypes and teach kids tech. Not surprisingly, all are women who are also engineers.
There’s gold in them blox
When Debbie Sterling arrived at Stanford’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, she looked around and wondered where the rest of the women were. When she graduated — not the only woman in her class, but close to it — she decided to do something to reach young girls before they get shunted away from science. But, first, she did a lot of research into how children develop.