IF She Can See It, THEN She Can Be It
‘IF she can see it, THEN she can be it.’
Images of professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields have traditionally underrepresented women and minorities. This makes it challenging for organizations like Play Like a Girl to develop compelling visual content that allows girls to see themselves engaging in science.
IF/THEN®, a national initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies which seeks to advance women in STEM, launched the IF/THEN® Collection to address this issue. The Collection is the largest, free resource of its kind with thousands of photos and videos of diverse and powerful contemporary women in STEM.
The Collection is critical to inspiring girls to pursue STEM careers and shifting how the world perceives women in STEM.
”Our goal is for girls everywhere to see STEM as exciting, relevant, and cool.”
—Nicole Small
The IF/THEN Collection features 125 female STEM innovators known as AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassadors, who serve as high-profile role models for girls. You may recall several of these women (Afua Bruce, Gracie Ermi, Sydney Hamilton and Beata Mierzwa) from our #GirlsRockSTEM Summit back in June.
Like these women, generations of women scientists and innovators have long created the realities we experience in the world.
Imagine life without the following seven inventions by women:
Medical Syringes
For years, the medical community struggled to perform procedures, as syringes required two hands to operate. In 1899, Leticia Greer created a revolutionary design for a one hand syringe that quickly replaced the old model. Her design is still in use today worldwide. She single handedly changed medical procedure through her creation.
Windshield Wipers
Every single car on the market today comes with windshield wipers to protect drivers’ vision in the rain. However, most people don’t realize that the original design for them came from Mary Anderson in 1903. Sadly, because she was a woman, her design was not implemented for ten more years. At that point it was accredited to a different inventor.
Central Heating
In 1919, Alice Parker changed the heating game with her invention of a natural gas heating system to replace the wood burning systems in place at the time. However, like Anderson, her design was sadly later popularized by and credited to another inventor.
Computers
Our society has increasingly become centered around computers in this technological age. A lot of people might not know this, but without mathematician Ada Lovelace who wrote the original computer algorithm in 1843 and computer scientist Grace Hopper who later wrote the first modern computer programming language in 1952, computers would not function how they do today.
Word Processing
Almost everyone in the U.S. has used Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Pages. Without Evelyn Berezin who created the first word processing system in 1971, we might still be writing our papers on typewriters.
Airplane Mufflers
We would not be able to fly all around the world today like we do without airplane mufflers to protect the engines. In 1917, the “Iron Woman” El Dorado Jones invented the airplane muffler in her metalworking factory. This revolutionized the flight industry, changing the scope of what planes can do.
Refrigerators
It’s hard to imagine a kitchen without a refrigerator to keep food from going bad. In 1914, Florence Parpart created the first electric refrigerator to replace the ice boxes people were using at the time. Her design has improved over the years, but still resembles what you probably have in your own kitchen.
We are thrilled to finally have images that depict the world as we see it here at Play Like a Girl. Many thanks to IF/THEN and all of the partners who have played a role in bringing the Collection to the world.
Creating Opportunities for Women Athletes
Play Like a Girl provides a supportive sisterhood of coaches, teammates and role models to improve girls’ health through sport while inspiring confidence and leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or STEM).
We strive to help girls develop the life skills necessary to succeed no matter where they go, especially in traditionally male-dominated arenas.
Likewise, many individuals and businesses in the women and sport community are uniting to offer girls and women a place to improve and grow the game—both on and off the field of play.
In fact, shortly before the pandemic hit, former New York F.C. President Jon Patricof and his colleague Jonathan Soros launched Athletes Unlimited.
This new model for professional sports caters to women and leverages the influence of professional athletes Jessica Mendoza and Abby Wambach.
Together, they helped to abolish team owners, home cities and rosters, allowing athletes to move fluidly between teams and cities throughout six week seasons.
This model is designed to empower athletes, putting them in charge of the league’s decision-making and content creation, and splitting revenue among them.
“You’re getting players in the mind-set of being their own bosses and having control over what their outcome is going to be,” Wambach told the New York Times. “In the women’s sports world, being able to monetize yourself in all possible ways matters. It could mean paying your mortgage.”
In the wake of rulings against the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s fight for equal pay and a long history of lack of opportunity for female professional athletes, this new league could be a gamechanger.
It “gives athletes comfort and security that never happens with female athletes,” Wambach also told the NYT. This opens new doors and opportunities for women in a traditionally male dominated arena.
Beyond Innovation
Over 2.8 million STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs are expected to go unfilled this year alone and those filled won't be filled by women. While women continue to make gains across the broader economy, they remain underrepresented in STEM jobs and among STEM degree holders--just like in sports.
Though numbers are growing, only 27% of all students taking the AP Computer Science exam in the United States are female. The gender gap only grows worse from there: Just 18% of American computer-science college degrees go to women. And that's in the U.S., where many college men proudly self-identify as "male feminists" and girls are taught they can be anything they want to be.
Advancing gender parity in the workplace requires that we start early and design programs to tap into the potential of young women to contribute further in this vital sector. Middle school girls in Nashville are learning STEM lessons through the context of sport thanks to our programs at Play Like a Girl. They also are mentored by professionals whose day-to-day work crosses the lines of STEM and sports.
To do this work, we're continually developing our knowledge and partnerships through experiences like Beyond Innovation 2018 which brought together 200 global leaders from across the sports, tech, nonprofit, education, business, entertainment and development landscape, to create innovative cross-sector partnerships that use the global appeal of sport to advance STEM.
Former NASA astronaut and the first woman of color to go into space, Dr. Mae Jemison reminded us that we all have a responsibility to be beneficial to society as we are all connected and have all the answers we need to solve the world's problems. The renowned physician, engineer, social scientist, entrepreneur and educator suggested that “hands on, hearts on, minds on” is “the best way to teach STEM.” And we agree.