Say no to princesses: Strong role models for girls

Lise Meitner

Lise Meitner faced enormous challenges as an Austrian Jewish woman. After earning a doctorate in math and sciences from the University of Vienna, Meitner went to Berlin to study radioactive elements with Otto Hahn.

Though her colleague won the Nobel Prize in 1944, it was Meitner who calculated the energy released by the splitting of uranium atoms, which she named “nuclear fission.” As for the discovery leading to the atomic bomb, Meitner said, “You must not blame scientists for the use to which war technicians have put our discoveries.”

Reshma Saujani

Women represent less than 20 percent of computer science graduates! Girls Who Code, founded by Reshma Saujani, is a summer program that introduces girls to computers and programming.

Saujani is “very passionate about women and passionate about the lack of parity in pay” and founded the program to encourage girls to consider a career in this prosperous field.

Coding skills can help all girls, but particularly those who live in poverty, pave the way to a lucrative future. To learn more about Saujani and Girls Who Code, visit the organization’s website.

Jane Goodall

No one knows more about chimpanzees than Jane Goodall, who spent more than two decades living with the wild beasts in the jungles of the Gombe Game Reserve in Africa.

Goodall has a Ph.D. in ethology, the study of animal behavior and has taught the world a great deal about chimpanzees, but she sees it the other way around. “Chimpanzees have given me so much,” says Goodall. “The long hours spent with them in the forest have enriched my life beyond measure.”

Elizabeth Blackwell

As the nation’s first female doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell became a prominent force in the emerging women’s rights movement… but becoming a doctor proved to be a challenge for Blackwell.

Blackwell was rejected by most of the medical schools to which she applied, and Geneva Medical College accepted her as a practical joke. The joke was on the administration when Goodall graduated first in her class in 1849. She spent her life practicing medicine and trying to make medical career opportunities available to women.

Maria Mitchell

Even as a child, Maria Mitchell observed the stars. By age 17, she began teaching science and math to girls, in a school she had begun on her own.

In 1847, Mitchell discovered the comet and was honored around the world. She became the first woman to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 1865 she became the first female astronomy professor in the U.S. when she was hired by Vassar College.