When I started my PhD program in biochemistry, my class consisted of ten students—seven men and three women. By the time we graduated, that number had dwindled to six men and just one woman (me).

Unfortunately, this disparity of women matriculating from my doctoral program in science is mirrored across the country. For the 6.7 million men in the United States who hold degrees in STEM, there are just 2.5 million women holding similar degrees.  Happily, there is huge positive momentum in changing equality in STEM fields, and the Associations of Zoos and Aquariums community is part of this progress and sea of change.

Children as Fortune Tellers

The cultural impressions of who scientists are start to manifest and are reinforced at a very young age. In his now famous research, between 1966 and 1977, the social scientist David Chambers asked 4,807 elementary-school children, mostly from Canada and the United States, to draw a scientist. Just 28 (0.6 percent) of the nearly 5,000 images depicted a female scientist. Notably all female scientist images were drawn by girls. Not a single boy drew a woman—a statistic I made perhaps too big a personal point of not replicating with my three boys, to the point that my son Jack, when he was very little, informed me happily of his discovery that, “Mom you know boys can be scientists too!”

David Miller has since expanded and continued this initial work from Chambers and has five decades of drawing amassing a collection of over 20,000 children’s works of art with scientists depicted. Since 1980 the images make a remarkable improvement with now about 30% of children depicting female scientists. I feel like Jekyll and Hyde with this statistic simultaneously thinking, “Yes progress!” and “Only 30 percent are you kidding me?!”

I also recognize that we have come a long way in our understanding of gender identity since these studies began. Our idea of male and female have expanded beyond the binary, but the point of the studies remains salient—we are far too limited in our idea of what science looks like and who does it.

Hollywood Representation (or lack thereof)

Hollywood is not helping with the reinforcement of this assumption of science being a gender tipped occupation by the lack of visibility of women in science.

A media content analysis from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media looked at a decade of film, television, and streaming content. That study revealed that men made up nearly two out of every three STEM characters portrayed in media. Of the STEM characters in media who were women, their portrayal was often narrowly focused on the medical and life science fields.

Etched in Stone

Off the screen, and in public view, things aren’t any better.

According to the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Art Inventories Catalog, of the 5,193 public outdoor sculptures of individuals in the United States, only 394, or less than 8 percent, are of women.

While I knew and was living all of this: being the only female in my biochemistry PhD graduation class, the famous “how to draw a scientist” social sciences work of Chambers and Miller, the bombardment of male science leads in movies and the dearth of female statues, I was only passively trying to be part of the solution. But in 2019, I got a call to be more deeply, proactively, and intentionally part of changing the narrative and changing the statistics.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Lyda Hill Foundation had a vision. These two organizations decided to partner to address the lack of visibility of women in STEM by creating opportunities for people of all genders and ages to see women in science. See them in film, in classrooms, in magazines, in statues—all of it! That is how the IF/THEN Ambassadors program was created. The premise is simple: that IF girls, tween and teens especially, could see more often, and in more ways, women in science THEN they could envision themselves as a scientist, which is the essential first step to becoming one!

IF/THEN Ambassadors, myself included, are a diverse coalition of 120 women that span a variety of STEM fields and who serve as role models for young girls, encouraging them to pursue careers in science. These are women from all experiences and walks of life who are doing incredible things—discovering galaxies, running sports statistics for major sports franchises, inventing new technologies, advancing medical care, protecting our planet from climate change, and even running an aquarium. To be seen, AAAS and the Lyda Hill Foundation have had the Ambassadors in Marie Claire magazine, spoken in classrooms, featured us and our work in the CBS series Mission Unstoppable (a popular Saturday morning youth TV show). As a cohort, we have taken on more mentees, supported one another on maternity leave, commiserated, learned each other’s research, and most recently taken a literal step to change the statistic of the number of female statues in the United States.

I bristled and cringed at the thought of my life-sized statue being created to be displayed and serve as inspiration for a younger generation, but it was in solidarity with my other 119 Ambassadors that I agreed to do it. From across North America in 2019, we all flew to Dallas to have scans performed to produce 3D printed statues. Built in bright orange for the world to see, the statues had their national unveiling at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, in the morning of March 5 2022. On that very brisk spring morning, I stood shoulder to shoulder (physically and in statue form) with 120 women leaders in STEM as the spring crowds filled the Smithsonian gardens. We watched them watch us.

The temporary orange statue installation was there to draw attention to and encourage visitors of all ages and gender identities to consider how they could be a scientist in the making. It was installed to change perceptions of society and the individual. The striking, 3D printed statues were definitely a conversation starter. I heard visitors from my mother’s generation remark, “When I grew up, women could only choose to be a nun, teacher, nurse or wife.” In contrast, I also heard young women talk about their goals to do stem cell research, discover and protect new marine life, and loads of questions on how to get a job like mine at Shedd Aquarium. There, in three generations, I was witness to female’s change in empowerment and self-ambition. From having prescribed careers set out for you to pick from to self-defining your career quest.  Progress. I did not anticipate how emotional it would be for me to be there in person to see the tangible and public celebration of so many incredible women making an impact across the country right now.

I joined as an ambassador because I want to share my experience and be a cheerleader for others in the hopes that young girls can see themselves as scientists and know that these careers and fields of study are for them. To SEE themselves reflected in the shiny orange 3-D printed statue.

Zoos and Aquariums are Helping Too

Since starting at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Ill., in 2016, I’ve already seen the number of female leaders in the zoo and aquarium community grow significantly. At the annual meeting, when our collective gets together, the room gets a bit fuller each year. AZA’s continual investment in female leadership, and diversity in multiple dimensions, is paying off. Today, more than 70 female leaders lead our AZA institutions. Intentional formal initiatives such the Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) and setting DEAI as strategic objective and themes at the Annual Conference are baseline requirements to advance equity in our community.

I am encouraged by the informal and formal progress for inclusivity within the AZA community. I know that AZA President Dan Ashe and his team diversity initiatives are not just as an organizational strategic requirement, but a personal journey too. 

As accredited zoos and aquariums, we already serve as a launchpad into nature for all our guests—54 percent of whom are women. We bring people eye-to-eye with ambassador species from across the globe and encourage them to learn more about the incredible animals with which we share this planet. We also connect with young women at a crucial point in their educational journey. Zoos and aquariums encourage every woman who comes through our doors to see herself in science and see herself as a change maker. We have incredible female STEM leader role models working at our facilities each and every day whose stories can inspire our guests.

Let’s build on this momentum and keep female leadership visible and growing as a strategic requirement of our missions.  

Bottom photo: IF/THEN She Can — The Exhibit, 2022, Courtesy of IF/THEN® Collection, by Hannele Lahti.

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