Oversaturated advertisements, billboards and commercials are filled with the faces of women representing the entertainment industry. Who are the women who speak for the industries not caught on camera? Female representation in science, technology, engineering and medicine careers is seldom discussed in the era of third-wave feminism and gender-binary progressivism. 47% percent of United States jobs were held by women in 2015 and only 24% fell in the aforementioned STEM fields. According to the United States Department of Commerce website, women constitute a little over half of the college-educated workers, yet remain significantly underrepresented. Revolutionary women in contemporary science like Cori Bargmann – a prominent neurobiologist paving the way for knowledge in genetic and neural circuit mechanisms of behavior – and Cynthia Kenyon – a molecular biologist and biogerontologist uncovering aging myths through genetic dissection – are only two of a few women who work in the science fields for other women to look up to. Jess Thompson, a sophomore at the University of Oregon studying physics states that “the only way for our generation to increase female representation and decrease gender bias and sexism in the STEM industries is for more women to fight to become a part of it.”

This so-called “scientific sexism” originates from preconceived gender norms and stereotypes that go so far as to stigmatize the color pink as feminine and the color blue as masculine. Robyn Burch, a practicing nurse of twenty years from Santa Clara, California, began her career applying for a lead-nurse position based on merit and ability. After five attempts, she was finally chosen over her male counterparts.“The hospital board always seemed to think that I was unfit for a position with this much responsibility because I could ‘get pregnant at any moment’ and let them down, or that my empathy towards others would get in the way of the hard parts of the job,” she says. “Not only was that almost laughably false, but it was also serious sexism.”

This discrepancy of bias in hiring practices has not diminished over the years, but the voices of women speaking out against discrimination and speaking up for basic human rights have not gone unheard. From the ratification of women’s suffrage in 1920 to the social media #MeToo movement nearly a century later, the voices that have cracked this glass ceiling need us to finally shatter it. The Association for Women in Science is the leading mass advocate for women in STEM and works diligently to help women reach their full potential in science; breaking down systematic barriers and pushing for increased awareness of unfair wages and work climates. The organization Million Women Mentors is calling for women and men in science fields to act as a mentor for female students aspiring to study STEM with over 230,000 pledges already. These organizations, among so many others, are committed to equal women representation in all aspects of society and encourage involvement from all walks of life. If we go out into the world and be our bravest selves by saying the things we want to say, marching in the marches we always see and holding the hands of those who make us feel free, we will fully understand that empowered women empower women.