While not mutually exclusive, the terms ‘1female’ and ‘scientist’ do not often go together. When girls are asked what they want to do when they are older, many talk about marketing, therapy, 2the caring professions or 3journalism. Perhaps a 4lawyer or fashion designer. Thirty years ago, 5it probably didn’t matter that girls generally avoided science and technology. But the labor market of the ‘80s and ‘90s was a very different place from what it is now.
“The future of the economy is in STEM,” says James Brown, the executive director of the STEM Education Coalition in Washington, D.C. “That’s where the jobs of tomorrow will be.”