Alison D. Stegert

The eighth of November is STEM Day (or STEAM Day), an occasion to celebrate the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths (and the Arts). Why November 8th? N-O-V8 spells Innovate!

To celebrate STEM Day, I’m reading Women in Science: Fifty Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World, written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky (Ten Speed Press, 2016). This fascinating non-fiction book for young readers perfectly demonstrates the intersection of the arts inclusion in STEAM with its gorgeous formatting and graphics. The book brims with Rachel’s quirky designs and interesting mini bios about history’s STEM-femme superstars. And it’s all wrapped up in a rich dopamine hit for lovers of lush endpapers – OMG yes, glorious!

I particularly enjoyed the quotes accompanying each bio. Here’s one from STEM’s pin-up girl (or poster child, if you prefer), Ada Lovelace:

“Imagination is the discovering faculty, pre-eminently. It is that which penetrates the unseen worlds around us, the worlds of science.”

Ada Lovelace

Some STEM proponents bristle at the inclusion of the Arts in STEAM, but when you consider the importance – the pre-eminence, if you will – of imagination and the necessity of media to express every aspect of STEM, it makes perfect, beautiful sense.

My affection and advocacy for STEM/STEAM is tied to my interest in women’s rights, particularly the right to equal education for girls and career opportunities for women. Yes, over the past 150 years, women have come a long way in this arena, but there’s still so much to do.

The STEM world is still “a boys’ club.” Stereotypes of male-dominated STEM fields persist, and statistics of uptake in careers support the biases. It’s not that girls lack the aptitude or the interest, but research shows girls’ interest in STEM wanes at around high school age. Whatever the cause, the gender gap is real. It’s tragic that girls who love and excel at science or maths, engineering or technology should not feel free to follow their passion.

One of the reasons I wrote Her Majesty’s League of Remarkable Young Ladies was to inspire today’s girls to follow their interests with the gusto and determination of the story’s feisty girl-genius hero, aspiring inventress Winifred Weatherby. Her character harkens to history’s trailblazing STEM women, those brilliant female figures whose determination, curiosity, and talent forced patriarchal society to make room for them.

I hope my book will inspire girls to believe in their talent and follow their STEMmiest dreams – regardless of stereotypes and societal norms.

#STEMDAY #NationalSTEMDay #STEAMDay