One of the most ambitious and at the same time inspiring goals of our MY BOX OF STEAM project is to provide girls with examples, inspiring them and bringing them closer to science, technology, and engineering. These subjects not only shape the future of our planet but are increasingly vital for the future of the female gender, as the most economically growing jobs are linked to them.
As we have already pointed out, gender inequality in education discourages girls from pursuing STEM subjects and acts as a form of discrimination, limiting their future opportunities.
Among the reasons that often keep girls away from studying STEM subjects are a lack of self-esteem, insufficient encouragement from their families – along with the lack of adequate financial support – and the stereotypical societal mindset: “it’s not for girls.”
Although in recent times there have been films, books, comics that have tried to bring women who have made “history” by making their fundamental contribution to the development of science and mathematics back into the limelight, we believe it is essential to keep sharing these examples!
That is why in many of our Boxes you will find biographies of extraordinary women who made discoveries that were fundamental to scientific progress and to humanity as a whole. Figures in whom little girls can recognize themselves and draw inspiration. These are stories that are often not found in traditional history books, they are little-known stories, and yet, the discoveries of these female scientists and mathematicians represented real leaps forward for the whole of mankind. Everyone knows Madame Curie, but perhaps not everyone is familiar with the fascinating lives of Grace Hopper, Sylvia Earle, Rosalind Franklin, Maryan Marzakhani, Laura Bassi, Maria Sibylla Merian… (and many others). Women scientists who contributed with their studies, research and sacrifice, even in historical periods when women were not allowed to study. The short biographies, which you can find among the materials in our boxes, are intended as an incentive not only for school girls and boys but also for teachers and parents.
They aim to show them all, how fundamental, important and significant the contribution made by women has been. They also highlight how difficult and arduous it has been; and how necessary it still is for each and every one of us to strive to ensure that this GAP, this gender inequality that sees our female students (in Italy the situation is more difficult than in other EU countries,) still in the minority compared to their male colleagues, decreases more and more until it disappears.*
Our project provides stimuli, ideas for teachers and for boys and girls in primary and secondary schools, trying to draw attention to an issue that is still far from being resolved. The skills gap, as well as the promotion of a real inclusivity of differences, require targeted projects with educational plans (in 2023 in Italy, for example, the Budget Law was passed, which defines new guidelines to introduce already from kindergarten, workshops, coding projects and other school and extra-school activities, in order to enhance learning related to STEM disciplines *). Our MY BOX OF STEAM project is therefore on this path, proposing not only experiments, but also games and small biographies as tools to promote gender equality and bring boys and girls closer to STEM subjects.
The United Nations General Assembly officially declared February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in December 2015. We hope that soon we will have an entire year of “February 11th,” with more and more female scientists, mathematicians, astronauts… quite literally, space girls! We have contributed in our own small way with our BOXES, come discover them with us!
