Thankfully, that’s not the case any more. Toys to inspire your little girls are out there — though they might be difficult to find. Here’s a few of our favorites.

Barbie’s Inspiring Women

Mattel believes that a girl imagines everything she can become with Barbie. This explains why I always thought I’d grow up to have an 18-inch waist! But now, they’re building better dreams. In June of 2018, the longtime doll manufacturer released a diverse line of Barbie “sheroes” which honor groundbreaking women like Amelia Ehrhart, snowboarding champion Chloe Kim, and artist Frida Kahlo. You can bet this computer geek preordered her Katherine Johnson (Hidden Figures) doll as soon as it became available.

Girls of all ages benefit from having a hands-on representation of their role models. And while Mattel has long offered career Barbies, they’re continually enhancing the line. Dolls are less than $10. So instead of the usual nurse or veterinarian, get the girl in your life the Barbie pilot doll and inspire the world’s next Tammie Jo Shults.

GoldieBlox Zipline Action Figure

What kid doesn’t want a zipline in their bedroom? The Goldieblox Zipline Action Figure comes with everything your budding engineer needs to endlessly create and re-create a 13-foot zipline. Plus, there’s a fully articulated action figure to ride on it!

GoldieBlox founder Debbie Sterling spent a year researching how to make an engineering toy for girls that went beyond the “make it pink” mentality that has guided toymakers for ages. She discovered that girls engage with stories and characters rather than just “building for the sake of building,” and the GoldieBlox line provides character-driven problem solving for girls ages four and up.

Karina Garcia DIY Slime Kit

Any parent of an eight-year-old girl can tell you: slime is the new Easy Bake oven. It’s also chemistry. And, it’s just plain fun. YouTuber Karina Garcia released this 15-piece slime kit which includes everything your budding chemist needs to make crunchy, clear, or glowing slime. Plus, there’s glitter. Need I say more?

Lego

In the 1980s, a box of Legos came with a letter reminding parents Legos were a creativity-building toy for both boys and girls. Sadly, by the 1990s, 90% of its users were boys, following years of Star Wars and action-movie sets.

Lego put tremendous research into finding out how to make toys that appealed to girls. They learned that, while all kids enjoyed building, boys and girls wanted to do different things when they were done. Boys were content to leave their creation as a backdrop, but girls were frustrated by their inability to “get inside.”

In 2012, Lego launched its Friends series, designed to engage the roleplaying aspects and interior engagement that appealed to girls in their focus groups. The line doubled sales expectations in the very first year and since then, it’s only continued to grow.

Roominate Alice’s Mansion

Speaking of engaging a girl’s interest, Roominate has developed a line of toys that will enable the girls in your life to architect the world’s coolest buildings. When she’s done constructing it, she can furnish and wire it. Your budding electrical engineer will build confidence and develop spatial skills, while adding such touches as a working elevator or a rotating swimming pool. Endlessly customizable, Roominate’s toys provide real-life lessons in circuitry and structural engineering.

Why Does It Matter?

My dad bought me a truck for my third birthday. When I was ten, we’d spend our Saturday afternoons assembling electronics kits. By the time I was twelve, he and I sat down to learn our first programming language together.

Would I have grown up to be a computer programmer if he hadn’t done those things? No one can say, but I do know doing those things gave me confidence to tackle anything later in life.

So head to your nearest toy store and pick up one of these fantastic toys. Sit down with your daughter, niece, or neighbor. You may be building the confidence that will shape her future.

The post Five Toys To Inspire and Empower the Women of Tomorrow appeared first on HER Magazine ™.

This article salutes some of the first, best, groundbreaking, utterly badass, world-changing women of STEM from the past two hundred years.

Ada Lovelace: Prophetess of Modern Computing

1815-1852

When Charles Babbage designed the Analytical Engine, few people understood it. That’s where Ada Lovelace came in, basically schooling every scientist of her time on the potential of modern computing.

She recognized Babbage’s machine could be more than just a calculation engine. A visionary, she believed its functionality could be applied to words, pictures, and music. In other words, she foretold modern computing.

If that weren’t enough, she also wrote the first computer program to go with it, using looping and conditional branching techniques still in use today.

Marie Curie. Because science.

1867-1934

No discussion of groundbreaking women of STEM would be complete without mentioning two-time Nobel prize winner Marie Curie.

Curie (along with her husband Pierre Curie) discovered two elements: polonium and radium. Her work forms the basis for x-ray technology and cancer treatments which have saved countless lives.

Not content to just be the first lady of science, she also began a prize-winning science dynasty: her daughter Irene Joliot-Curie won the Nobel prize in 1935. And Marie’s granddaughter, Hélène Langevin-Joliot, is a nuclear physicist who still consults for the French government today.

Lillian Moller Gilbreth, Industrial Engineering Pioneer

1878-1972

Perhaps you grew up watching or reading Cheaper by the Dozen, the story of twelve kids growing up with efficiency-expert-parents — but you might not have realized the real-life scientist behind the story was Lillian Moller Gilbreth.

Gilbreth has been called a “genius in the art of living.” An engineer and doctor in psychology, and considered to be the first industrial/organizational psychologist, she took her knowledge of the scientific process and combined it with her husband’s passion for efficiency. Together, they revolutionized industrial engineering. Her daughter later wrote a book on how they applied that knowledge to their family life, which was made into the film you know and love today.

Gilbreth was the first to meld psychology, the scientific method, and industrial design — giving rise to entirely new disciplines. This science is at the forefront of making our work and play better, and we have her to thank for that.

Grace Hopper, Because Necessity is the Mother of Modern Computing Language

1906-1992

Many people don’t realize it was women who were at the forefront of early programming. One of these women was Dr. Grace Murray Hopper.

In those days, programming required heavy math skills, something many businessmen didn’t possess. Hopper envisioned a user-friendly computer language which would make it possible for businessmen to program. FLOW-MATIC was born.

FLOW-MATIC is not just a great name for a rap album—it was the first English-like data processing language. Her work gave rise to COBOL, a computer programming language designed for use in commerce, which is still in use today.

Hedy Lamarr, Technology Ninja

1914-2000

If you’re reading this article on your Bluetooth-enabled tablet over WiFi, you can thank Hedy Lamarr.

Many people know her as a sultry 1930s film star, but she was also an inventor. Self-taught, she was the sort of nerd who would rather stay home inventing than attend a Hollywood party — even though she most certainly had invites to all of those Hollywood parties.

At the beginning of World War II, she came up with the idea of using frequency-hopping to keep Axis powers from intercepting communications. This technology matured into the Bluetooth and WiFi we use to this day! Her ideas have improved everything from television, to printers, to those in-home virtual assistants we’re finally getting. All because of the glamorous Hedy Lamarr.

Erna Hoover, Revolutionary Software Designer

1926-

You may not know her name, but Erna Hoover revolutionized the communications industry — while she was on maternity leave.

After earning her Ph.D at Yale, Mrs. Hoover took a job at Bell Labs. A few short years later, while in the hospital recuperating from the birth of her second daughter, she had an epiphany.

You see, up until then, phone systems were hardwired and frequently became overloaded. Hoover envisioned a way to use software to manage it — basically revolutionizing modern communications.

Hoover received one of the first software patents ever for her design, and the principles of her invention are still in use today.

Roma Agrawal: Tomorrow’s Engineer, Today.

1983-

Roma Agrawal is only at the beginning of what is becoming an illustrious career in Structural Engineering. Only 35 years of age, Agrawal has already worked on major projects like London’s Shard.

Born in Ithaca and raised in Mumbai, Agrawal came to London to complete her degree. Since then, she’s built a towering list of achievements, including Young Structural Engineer of the Year.

Though women comprise only 8% of engineers in the UK, Agrawal is working to change that. With a long career still ahead of her, she’s one to watch in the coming years.

The Next 200 Years

The world is better because of the work of these women — women who’ve challenged stereotypes and entered fields previously dominated by men. They came with their own fresh insight, bringing new understanding into existing fields. Whether it’s by combining disciplines, or by making unparalleled contributions, they’ve given rise to the tools and technologies indispensable in today’s world.

Rock on, women of STEM.

The post These Women Built Your Wifi: A Salute To The Historical Women In STEM appeared first on HER Magazine ™.