According to the National Science Foundation, less than 15% of the world’s engineers are women.
There’s evidence that STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) interest by women is starting to grow – for example, for the first time ever, the University of California, Berkeley reported this month that its intro to computer science classes attracted more women (106) than men (104) – but even so, girls (and boys) could use more STEM inspiration by example.
International Women’s Day falls on March 8. A large part of the day involves celebrating the success of women. In the following pages we celebrate 10 women whose work is inspirational or who take steps to inspire in engineering or related fields.
Odds are you haven’t heard of many of the women we’ve included in this list. While their names aren’t Grace Hopper or Lady Ada Lovelace, read through for a small sampling of this current generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, and encouragers, and see what they are doing to share knowledge and inspire more STEM in the world.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
