Webinar Series

Getting Girls into STEM and Cybersecurity - Pathways to Progress

April 21, 2021
PORTRAYHER:

1

Representations of Women STEM Characters In Media 
2
Methodology

1. Content Analysis

● Analyzed 1,007 STEM characters in the top-rated 

television/cable shows, films, and streaming 

content.

2. Survey

● Analyzed a nationally representative sample of 915 

girls/women:

○ girls in middle school

○ girls in high school

○ young women ages 18-24 year old who 

are currently full-time college students.

● 52% survey response rate

3
Occupational Stereotypes Reinforced

4
Women Face Adversity inSTEM

5
STEM Shown asFamily-Inflexible

6
Both Men & Women Shown as STEMLeaders

7
STEM Work Shown asCollaborative

8
1. 79.0% - April Sexton, Chicago Med

2. 78.5% - Addison Montgomery, PrivatePractice

3. 77.7% - Temperance Brennan, Bones

4. 76.7% - Meredith Grey, Grey’sAnatomy

5. 75.9% - Abby Sciuto, NCIS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Popular Women STEMCharacters

9
“THE SCULLY EFFECT”

PROVES If She Can See It, She Can Be ItTM

• Nearly 2/3 of women in the study who work in STEM say Dana Scully served as a role model.

• Women who regularly watched The X-Files are 50% more likely to work in STEM than women 

who watched it less frequently, or not at all.

• More than 90% of women in the study who are familiar with The X-Files agreed that Dana Scully 

is a strong female character and a role model for women and girls.

• Women who watched The X-Files are 42% more likely to agree with the statement

“I would encourage my daughter/granddaughter to enter a STEM field” than non-watchers.

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Improve media representations of STEM 

characters when it comes to gender and race. 

Special attention should be paid to increase the 

representation of women and people of color as 

STEM characters, and to improve the ways 

women STEM characters are portrayed.

Media Industry Interventions

30
STEM Industry Interventions

Retain women in STEM through equitable hiring, pay, and 

promotion practices, and by addressing workplace bias 

(gender discrimination and sexual harassment) as well as 

implementing flexible work-family policies.

31
Institutional Interventions

Cultivate girls’ interest in math and science from 

an early age through media role models, 

parents, educators, and mentors.

32
Cultural Interventions

Implement early childhood interventions to combat stereotyp 

about science as a pursuit for men, and cultural 

misperceptions that girls and women have a lower aptitude 

STEM.

33
Q & A 

34
Girls in STEM and 

Cybersecurity

DR. GABRIELA A. GONZALEZ

Getting Girls into STEM and Cybersecurity - Pathways to Progress

National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education

April 2021

35
MY STEM JOURNEY

36
SHE WILL CONNECT

intel.com/foundation

37
WOMEN IN SCIENCE (WISCI)

girlup.org/programs/wisci

38
milliongirlsmoonshot.org

In 2020, Intel’s She Will Connect Initiative joined the Million Girls Movement as a scaling 

mechanism to reach more girls across the U.S.

MILLION GIRLS MOONSHOT

39
MILLION GIRLS MOONSHOT

40
GIRLS, STEM, CYBERSECURITY

69% of women who have not 

pursued careers in information 

technology attribute their choice to 

not knowing what opportunities 

are available to them. - Computing Technology Industry Association

Increasing women’s participation in 

cybersecurity

is good for women,

good for business,

and good for society.* - TheConversation.com

Women in Cybersecurity (cybersecurityguide.org)

41
42
Q & A 

43
Thank You for Joining Us!

Upcoming Webinar: 

“Accredited Credential Programs: Building Trust Between Employers and Credential 

Providers Through Rigorous Assessments” 

When: Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 2-3PM EDT

Register: https://nist-nice.adobeconnect.com/webinarmay2021/event/registration.html

nist.gov/nice/webinars

44