February 11 is International Day of Women and Girls in Science! This day celebrates the achievements of women and girls within the STEM field and encourages girls to consider education and careers in STEM. According to the National Girls Collaborative Project, women make up 48% of the total workforce but only 34% of the workforce in STEM fields. The underrepresentation in STEM is significantly worse for Latina, Black, and Indigenous women. The United Nations started the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in 2015 to help combat this gender gap in STEM disciplines.
It is important to foster a sense of belonging and curiosity regarding STEM from an early age. This interest should continue to be explored as we grow! You can do this and celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with EVPL by attending one of our STEM programs or checking out the books below. For more information about this day, take a look at the United Nations’ resources.
EVPL Events
- PreSTEAM: International Day of Women and Girls in Science Edition
- Thursday, February 2 at 10:00 am at EVPL McCollough. For ages 3-5.
- Escape Room: Women and Girls in Science
- Friday, February 10, and Tuesday, February 21 at 3:30 pm at EVPL Central. For teens.
- Women in Science STEM Celebration with local NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Mandy Scurry
- Saturday, February 11 at 1:00 pm at EVPL Oaklyn. For children in grades 3-6. Registration required.
- Women in STEM Makey Makey Camp
- Saturday, February 11 at 12:00 pm at EVPL Stringtown. For ages 11+.
- You can check out all of our other upcoming STEM programs on the EVPL Event Calendar!
Book Recommendations
Books For Children
Hidden Powers: Lise Meitner’s Call to Science by Jeannine Atkins
At the turn of the 20th century, Lise Meitner dreamed of becoming a scientist. In her time, girls were not supposed to want careers, much less ones in science. But Lise was smart—and determined. She earned a PhD in physics, then became the first woman physics professor at the University of Berlin. The work was thrilling, but Nazi Germany was a dangerous place for a Jewish woman. When the risks grew too great, Lise escaped to Sweden, where she continued the experiments that she and her laboratory partner had worked on for years. Her efforts led to the discovery of nuclear fission and altered the course of history.
Only Lise’s partner, a man, received the Nobel Prize for their findings, but this moving and accessible biography shows how Lise’s legacy endures.
Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM by Tonya Bolden
Award-winning author Tonya Bolden explores the Black women who have changed the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in America. Including groundbreaking computer scientists, doctors, inventors, physicists, pharmacists, mathematicians, aviators, and many more, this book celebrates more than 50 women who have shattered the glass ceiling, defied racial discrimination, and pioneered in their fields. In these profiles, young readers will find role models, inspirations, and maybe even reasons to be the STEM leaders of tomorrow. These stories help young readers to dream big and stay curious. The book includes endnotes, a bibliography, and an index.
- Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty
- Cece Loves Science by Kimberly Derting
- Hidden Powers: Lise Meitner’s Call to Science by Jeannine Atkins
- Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating
- Counting on Katherine by Helaine Becker
- Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women by Catherine Thimmesh
Books For Teens
Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani
Jim Ottaviani returns with an action-packed account of the three greatest primatologists of the last century: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas. These three ground-breaking researchers were all students of the great Louis Leakey, and each made profound contributions to primatology—and to our own understanding of ourselves.
Tackling Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas in turn, and covering the highlights of their respective careers, Primates is an accessible, entertaining, and informative look at the field of primatology and at the lives of three of the most remarkable women scientists of the twentieth century. Thanks to the charming and inviting illustrations by Maris Wicks, this is a nonfiction graphic novel with broad appeal.
- Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science by Jeannine Atkins
- Atomic Women: The Untold Story of the Scientists Who Helped Create the Nuclear Bomb by Roseanne Montillo
- Florence Nightingale: The Courageous Life of the Legendary Nurse by Catherine Reef
- Beyond the Mapped Stars by Rosalyn Eves
Books For Adults
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.
Keep an eye out for information coming soon about an author visit from Robin Wall Kimmerer.
- All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson
- Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
- The Glass UniverseL How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel
- The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
All descriptions are from Goodreads.
