The Huffington Post – Samantha Parent
“According to the U.S. Department of Education, girls today are steering away from math, science and computers in record numbers. The percentage of women graduates in computer science is at a 39-year low…While the lack of women in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is attributed by some people to a lack of interest on the part of women, a more likely explanation is that societal beliefs, or stereotypes, color our view — insidiously sending our girls the message that women don’t have strong math and technical skills and that men make better engineers and computer scientists. So how do we reverse this trend?…Sheryl Sandberg, the outspoken CEO of Facebook and a role model for women in technology, gave some interesting – and very simple advice on how we, as parents, can encourage our daughters to take an early interest in the STEM fields. Sandberg’s advice? Encourage our daughters to play more video games — and even play with them — to pique their interest in computers.”(more)