Everywhere you look today, countries are bemoaning the lack of STEM engineers, or just engineers in general. The malaise is not without good cause, given that even the argument’s detractors get that companies aren’t willing to pay them, while others readily admit that, “…that there are shortages in specific fields and in specific regions…” and more pointedly that, “The U.S. does, however, have a problem: Some of its best engineers are not doing engineering, and some of its best potential engineers are not even studying engineering, leaving us short-changed in solving the important problems of the day.” (ref link)
At present in the U.S., the field of engineering is dominated by men. Estimates range from 80 to 97%, depending on who you listen to, but the general consensus is that engineering isn’t a field where you find many women. The reasons are diverse (again, depending upon who you listen to and which “ology’s” theory you prefer, but the common denominator seems to be that a significant portion of our culture and society discourage (whether actively, passively, or ignorantly) women from the field.
Well, more accurately, we raise girls to eschew the idea entire. This, to me, seems a remarkably silly and counterproductive thing to do. Women outnumber men on the planet almost three to one; that’s a lot of intellectual potential being missed.
So I was quite pleased to find the following item entering the market: GoldieBlox.
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It is also comforting to see that this enterprise successfully completed its Kickstarter funding in five days.
I’d like to see this budding entrepreneur head over to Angel.Co and get some venture capital now that there’s media presence, validated interest/support, and an initial supply chain in place. I suspect it would be a very wise move and quite the successful one, too.
Meanwhile, if you’re interested in introducing your daughters to a world where wanting to build, design, and understand how things work is embraced and encouraged, I urge you to visit, view, and consider this educational and entertaining new addition to the toy market: