NBC News (6/26) reports on its website that Verizon has launched a campaign called “Inspire Her Mind” that is designed to make the case for women in STEM, and a commercial from the campaign has “gone viral.” The video shows how a girl’s interest in science gets overlooked by her parents and ends with a message from “Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code: ‘Isn’t it time we told her she’s pretty brilliant, too?.’” The video points out that “66 percent of fourth grade girls say they like science and math, but only 18 percent of all college engineering majors are female.”
GoldieBlox Encourages Girls To Become Engineers
The New York Times (11/20) “Bits” blog reported on a video that has been viewed more than six million times since it was posted earlier this week on YouTube. The video is an ad for GoldieBlox, a start-up “that sells games and books to encourage girls to become engineers.” In the ad, three young girls “grab a tool kit, goggles and hard hats and set to work building a machine that sends pink teacups and baby dolls flying through the house.”