“What do you want to be when you grow up?” In the past, the same set of answers to this question would echo among young girls: princess, actress, teacher, mommy, or nurse. Though all respectable aspirations, these were some of only a few, limited options presented to girls when determining what their future held. Roles rooted in vanity, motherhood, and care loomed over the futures of bright young women.

Luckily, because of efforts made in public schools, organizations supporting girls in STEM, societal changes, and the deconstruction of gender norms, girls are no longer bound to only a few careers. When we ask girls today the same question, we’ll still hear the same answers we’ve heard for ages. But on top of that, we might hear: astronaut, doctor, scientist, architect. The seeds for the innovators of our future have already been planted; however, we must continue to work to watch those seeds blossom.

Women made up just 8% of science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) careers in 1970. However, according to the United States Census Bureau, though women make up half of the U.S. workforce, only 27% of STEM jobs are held by women. Though progress has been made, the current disparity is significant. As the young, progressive generation that we are, it is up to us to forge ahead and make the STEM field as equitable as possible. 

How, you ask? It sounds simple on paper, but the reality is so much harder. We must keep doing. Those with the power to make women’s lives more equitable to men’s? They must keep doing. The female graduate students that couldn’t get their name on the academic paper that they spent years on? They must keep doing. Those girls in high school STEM classes, surrounded by their male counterparts, yearning for the respect that they deserve but just can’t seem to get? They must keep doing. Those little girls with a dream, to reach for the stars, to cure the common cold, to go to infinity? They must keep doing.

If we want to see the young female innovators of today become the female innovators of tomorrow, we must keep doing, and encourage those young girls to keep doing. Our future depends on it.