“Why do you think so many women choose not to go into STEM fields?”

It was a question posed to a recent visitor, Midia Sikh Hassan, at my school, one who has achieved incredible strides in innovation, engineering and entrepreneurship. She was recently awarded the Queen’s Young Leaders Award for her work.

I only wish to have recorded her response, granting me the ability to play it back in all of my classes. As I can only rely on my failing memory to put together the conversation, I will refer to the highlights:

Women want to see meaning in what you do in engineering. When you associate engineering with car engines, which is fine if that’s what you want to do, it turns off a number of people. Show young women the multitude of problems STEM fields can solve.

When a young woman is struggling in Math or Science, the response is to guide her away from it rather than find ways to help.

Do an image search for engineers, entrepreneurship or innovation and see how few results show women in them. At best, you get the token woman in a group.

Seems obvious now, doesn’t it?

Raised in a household full of strong women who, if I can be real, called all the shots, it was baffling to recognize the struggles women still go through. Many chance encounters, including a course in Feminist Ethics during my undergrad, opened up my eyes otherwise. The rise of the #MeToo movement still feels shocking, mainly to men, but is a testament to what is faced every day.

Yes, we’ve come a long way and there are countless women we should celebrate on this International Women’s Day. Take the time to show appreciation for the accomplishments of women and those who inspire you personally.

Recognize we’ve built a lot of our society using only half our brain power and we’re only just starting to tap the other half. Imagine what kind of world we can live in when we fully embrace half our world population for their genius, ingenuity, compassion and strength.