Despite the push to get more girls interested in the sciences, for many, it’s an uphill climb. Youth Radio’s Olivia Monforte describes some of the obstacles.
I nearly failed 8th grade biology. Not because I found it incredibly hard, but because I didn’t care.
My dad has a Ph.D. in chemistry. He used sit across the dinner table from me and my sister and crack jokes. “Where did all of the scientist genes go?” We were art kids, writers, even philosophers, but never scientists.
As a young kid I remember having a lot of curiosity about animals. I used to love catching bugs and asking my dad question after question. “Do bugs bleed? Do they have hearts? How do they think?” But this interest was never really encouraged.
Sometimes I wonder, had I been a boy, would these inquiries have been taken more seriously? Would I have pushed myself harder?