Celebrating Girl Power

There’s a change in the air, and it’s electrifying.

Today is International Women’s Day, and all month long we are celebrating Women’s Empowerment Month. It’s probably safe to predict that 2017 will be the Year of the Woman.

In 2016, we celebrated the nomination of a female as the Democratic candidate in the Presidential election–nearly a century after the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution granted women the right to vote. Regardless of one’s political beliefs or preference of candidates, this milestone was a long overdue victory for women.

We have watched as the movie “Hidden Figures” has dominated the box office. The film celebrates the achievements of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson, the three “human computers” whose contributions to NASA during the space program’s early years transcended gender, race and professional barriers. So how is it that such remarkable stories remained untold for nearly half a century?

Lego is continuing that momentum with its “Women of NASA” series, available at end of 2017 or early 2018. The homage to women joins prior series featuring “Women Scientists” and “DC Super Hero Girls.”

General Electric also is championing women, as introduced in its poignant commercial celebrating Millie Dresselhaus, the first woman to win the National Medal of Science in Engineering.

It begins with this simple question:

“What if we treated great female scientists like they were stars?”

What if, indeed.

The spot shares slices of life with little girls playing with their Millie dolls, young fans eagerly requesting selfies with the scientist, segments on talk shows and more. The spot ends with an impressive pledge.

“At GE, we’re not just imagining a world where brilliant women in science are treated like stars – we’re helping create it. We know that a company that works to change the world, should reflect the world. In that spirit, GE has set goals of having 20,000 women in STEM roles by 2020 and obtaining 50:50 representation for all our technical entry-level programs. That is how we will balance the equation.”

Sadly, Ms. Dresselhaus passed away on February 20, 2017, but her legacy will continue to be celebrated by GE and the many women who follow in her footsteps.

While it’s amazing to see strong, inspiring women celebrated, we still have a long way to go. We, as women, need to lift each other up. And we need to surround our daughters, our nieces and our granddaughters with empowering messages and encouragement to dream big.

And then to do big.