Blazing a trail for girls in science

Zara Rutherford is a world record breaker, aged 19. She returned home to Belgium last month as the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. 

She did it, she says, to show younger girls at school that if they like studying techy stuff then they shouldn’t give up. They start out absolutely as good as boys at science.

There’s a problem in the world because there are many more scientists and engineers who are men than women. It’s a problem for all of us. 

Why? Well, because scientists and engineers are building the world of the future that we’ll all live in. So, we need the best and brightest people doing it. And we don’t want to lose lots of them, just because they’re girls. 

Also, if engineers are mainly men, they are likely to build things that suit men better than women. That’s happened in the past. And we don’t want to live in a world that’s made for only half the people in it. 

So, what’s the solution? In the WoW! News App this week we meet Cynthia. She had a “wow moment” when a young woman engineer came to her school and talked about her work. Cynthia realised that’s what she wanted to do, too.  

Today, she’s studying engineering at university and working on systems to control driverless cars. She loves it! And when she’s not working, she also loves going to schools to tell other girls about it. She’s one of many “role models”, showing girls that they, too, can find their place doing something they love in engineering. 

Are you inspired? Find more ideas and share your own in the WoW! News App !

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