News
Page 4
Street Roots • Jan. 8-14, 2016
P H O T O CO U R TES Y O F GIRLS IN C . O F THE PACIFIC N O R T H W E S T
Inside the control room o f K 0 IN 6 news, Girls Inc. o f the Pacific Northwest students learn the technical details behind the nightly news.
It girt walks into a science class...
Local programs inspire K 12 girls to pursue careers in S T E M fields, where women are lacking in numbers
BY E M IL Y GREEN
S T A FF W R IT E R
veryone knows: Girls struggle with
math and science, right?
Google “kids science kits.” Most of
the products you’ll see are clearly marketed
toward boys, and those that aren’t - the
predominantly pink, so-called science kits
produced for girls -
display words like
“Perfumery” and
“Spa’mazing” on
their
packaging.
'■ 5% Venture-backed startup '
Tj
From an early age,
founders who are female
with antiquated
gender stereotypes, a
<20% Female students who took the
lack of female
Advanced Placement test for
mentors in STEM
computer science in 2013
leadership roles, and
other direct and
26% Computing jobs in the U.S.
indirect messaging,
. held by women
many girls shy away
5% Girls who consider a
from considering a
STEM career
career in science,
technology,
20% Boys who consider a
engineering and
STEM career
math, or STEM.
But studies have
73% People whoBfeve the tech
repeatedly shown
• industry is sexist
girls are just as apt to
SOURCES: P O R TLA N D D E V E LO P M E N T C O M M IS S IO N ,
excel at math and
O R E G O N E M P L O Y M E N T D E P A R TM E N T,
T H E G U A R D IA N , N E X T G EN E R A TIO N R E C R U ITM E N T
science as boys, and
with continuing
growth in the STEM-
related job markets on Portland’s horizon,
local economists and tech industry leaders
say it’s time to let them know.
Tech is one of the fastest-growing and
BY THE NUMBERS
most lucrative industries in the metro area,
and right now, white men disproportionately
occupy the jobs within it.
During the first quarter of 2015, men
filled nearly 70 percent of all tech positions
in the Portland and Vancouver metro region,
and while whites make up about 75 percent
of the regional population, they occupied 84
percent of tech jobs, according to data
compiled by the Portland Development
Commission.
In 2014, about 1 in 4 job openings in the
Portland region were STEM and health care
occupations, said Amy Vander Vliet, a
regional economist with Oregon
Employment Department.
“Looking forward, the tri-county region is
expected to create nearly 12,000 new
STEM jobs by 2022, or about one out of
every 12 new jobs,” she said, adding that
between job growth and vacancies, there
will, be about 26,000 STEM job openings -
not including the health industry.
But STEM jobs remain unfilled longer
than jobs in other fields, indicating the skills
are in high demand relative to the supply,
and the supply of qualified women and
minorities is even smaller.
At Intel, only 25 percent of staff is
female, and far fewer are minorities. This
prompted the company to pledge $300
million in early 2015 to diversifying its
workforce over the next five years.
While many national and local tech
companies announced plans to diversify
the audience what her robot does. The paper on the right shows a
honeycomb pattern that was programmed into it.
their workforces by recruiting more women
and minorities, some experts say they’re
overlooking the root cause.
See GIRLS INC., page 5