In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I’m joined by Brittany Greer, the executive director of Rosie Riveters, a nonprofit that is working to close the gender gap in the STEM workforce.

There are an estimated 2.8 million unfilled STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs in this country. Meanwhile, women make up just 28% of the STEM workforce. Since 2016, Brittany Greer has been working to change that.

The nonprofit she founded aims to inspire girls aged 8 to 14 from diverse backgrounds to explore careers in the field through hands-on learning kits.

“It’s all of the materials needed to complete the project operationally. We do everything from explore hydraulics – making a hydraulic desk lamp where the arm goes up and down – to exploring the science of sound. To build a harmonica, we have popsicle sticks and rubber bands and straws and if you put those together in the right way, you can make a harmonica that vibrates and make sounds,” explains Greer.

She says that part of the lesson of each Rosie Riveters learning kit is to understand how that science project connects to a career in STEM. For example, the connection between the science of sound to a career in the audio-visual industry.

She adds, “The whole goal of our programs is not only excitement and awareness of the opportunities that are available in STEM, that’s one part of it. The real core of what we do is providing girls in our programs with an opportunity for productive struggle, a space to get things wrong before they get them rights.”

As a result, the young girls not only build critical thinking and problem-solving skills, they build their confidence. “It’s watching a kid go from, ‘I can’t,’ to, ‘Look what I did.’ Because once you get through the struggle and you have completed the task and you did something that you didn’t think was possible or you didn’t think was fair, there is a radiance that comes off of a participant after that moment and they’re excited to show you and talk about it,” explains Greer.

Greer believes that building those skills and building confidence is what drives more young girls to consider STEM as a career.

“If you can invest in them early, they will know that they can come and find you at the end. You’re going to have a far greater participation rate of of people who have not gone to participate in your space before because you’re welcoming them and you’re inviting them, and you’re showing them the opportunities that are available to them.

“I think the more that we can do that, the more that we can open up opportunities that haven’t previously been available to a lot of the population,” Greer adds.

Listen to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts, to learn more about how Rosie Riveters gets the kits into the hands of the girls they are hoping to inspire.

You can also find it on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 326: Brittany Greer, executive director and founder, Rosie Riveters
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here