Women in STEM
Thanks to a recent study conducted by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the "Scully Effect" posited by fans of The X-Files has now been validated. The survey results showed that the character of Agent Dana Scully was an inspiration and a trailblazer-63% of women surveyed said that Scully gave them the confidence to believe that they too could succeed in a field that was male-dominated-demonstrating that gender parity in media can result in social change.
At AT&T, we support programs that promote innovation and interest in STEM skills-building, with a goal of encouraging more young women to pursue meaningful careers in these industries. That support reaches organizations including Girls Who Code, Black Girls Code, Girl Scouts, Imagination Foundation, and Code.org. These organizations bring STEM skills-building to girls and young women in a variety of ways, including after-school programs, camps, hands-on technology labs and robotics competitions.
AT&T and the AT&T Foundation have invested more than $144 million to support STEM initiatives in the past 30 years; and given nearly $12 million to support women in STEM in the past 5 years. With our investment in education and job training, we are working to create a skilled and diverse workforce that powers our company - and our country - for the future.
During SHAPE 2019, we are continuing our commitment to women in STEM through educational panels and innovative hands-on demos and exhibits that give all attendees an opportunity to explore what could be possible in the future in this always-changing field.
AT&T Contributes $25,000 to Expand the Girl Scout Leadership Experience in Greater Los Angeles
June 23, 2019
As part of its multi-pronged approach to help ensure more girls have access to the Girl Scout Leadership Experience (GSLE), Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) has secured property in Inglewood that will soon become the GSGLA Leadership Center. This center will serve as a program hub for nearly 20,000 girls, grades K-12, in addition to 8,000 adult volunteers in the surrounding communities.
This new center will increase GSGLA's capacity to provide the Girl Scout Leadership Experience to more under-resourced girls. AT&T's support of $25,000 will help purchase supplies and equipment to bring girls' ambitions to life. The budget includes the buildout of a flexible space where ideas and teamwork can take any shape - from height adjustable tables to 3D printers and laser cutters - AT&T can help ensure that girls have a space for active learning around STEM. In this space, hundreds of Cadettes from Inglewood and surrounding underserved communities (grades 5 and 6) will have all they'll need to earn the Robotics 1 and 2 Badges: Designing Robots and Programming Robots. To complete the steps necessary to achieve these badges, girls build a prototype of a new kind of robot that helps people who work in difficult or dangerous situations, and then learn how to control and program their robot. Girls will meet up over the course of weeks and months to decide on a challenge, brainstorm solutions, plan and build a prototype, and test it to see how well it meets the challenge.
