Female STEM Role Models help young girls see and believe

Young women are pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), reaching for the stars and contributing to the solutions to the world’s biggest challenges, following in the footsteps of the women who came before them. According to statistics from the National Science Foundation, women make up just a third of the science and engineering workforce. Many organizations around the world are fiercely working to improve this statistic.

Role Models are an indisputable and indispensable catalyst for inspiring young women and girls. Role Models help bridge the imagination gap and personify a simple truth: seeing is believing. (Credit to Career Girls) When a young girl sees a woman successfully pursuing a STEM career, and having fun doing it, she is more likely to imagine a STEM career for herself, and perhaps even change the world.

Painting a truer picture

Role Models shatter preconceived notions about what a scientist looks like, where a scientist is from, and what kind of job a scientist has. By connecting young girls to women working in their communities, in renowned institutions, in media and beyond, they will gain access to inspiration, guidance and mentorship. Access to Role Models in a variety of careers is essential to young women pursuing STEM.

  • Women working in STEM understand the unique challenges young women may face, and can offer advice on navigating their work and careers, building confidence and expanding the network with which they will shape their futures. 

  • Through STEM education programs like Scientific Adventures for Girls and using tools like the IF/THEN® Collection, the largest, free resource of its kind with thousands of photos and videos of diverse and powerful contemporary women in STEM, young girls can access real Role Models who are eager to share their journeys.

The IF/THEN® Initiative seeks to further advance women in STEM by empowering current innovators and the next generation of pioneers. Rooted in a firm belief that there is no better time to highlight positive and successful female professional Role Models, IF/THEN® is designed to activate a culture shift among young girls to open their eyes to STEM careers.

#IfThenShe Can–The Exhibit is born

The idea to produce life-sized 3D-printed statues of female STEM Role Models for #IfThenSheCan–The Exhibit came after a 2016 study led by former Treasurer of the United States Rios Rios that found the 10 largest US cities publicly displayed fewer than a half-dozen statues of real women. Once it became clear we need more women in STEM and need more statues of women, it only made sense to use a high-tech approach to create the figures - this way, young women and girls who see the statues have another physical example of women thriving in STEM careers. If they can see it, then they can be it.


You can find more information about 125 female STEM innovators including bios, photos, interactive videos and links to features on CBS’ Mission Unstoppable online, in the IF/THEN® Collection. In addition to this digital toolkit, the AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassadors have been immortalized in life-sized 3D-printed statues as part of #IfThenSheCan - The Exhibit, which has been seen by over 4 million people via exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution, Central Park Zoo, and broadcast into the homes of millions of Americans via the NBC TODAY show. 

Paving the way with what they did not have

Many of the women, selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Lyda Hill Philanthropies to be AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassadors, reported they wished they had women who looked like them to look up to when dreaming of working in STEM fields as children. In their time, not only was there a limited number of diverse women working in STEM, but the number of diverse women working in STEM represented in the media was nearly nonexistent. Providing Role Models that appear on social media, in traditional media like on TV and in the news, in classrooms and textbooks, and in parks, museums, and other community centers via statues is an invaluable resource for the next generation of STEM pioneers.


This fall, watch for the statues distributed to locations around the country that are important to each AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassador. Follow along at @ifthenshecan on all channels to see if a real-life STEM role model’s statue will be on display near you!


- By Margaret Black, Director of Lyda Hill Philanthropies

Giselle Escajeda