Women now make up 23% of Congress, 24% of S&P 500 corporate boardrooms, 40% of the student body at top business schools, and nearly 50% at top law schools.
But only 7% of pilots and 3% of aircraft maintenance technicians in the U.S. are women. So JetBlue volunteers (both male and female) have – for the past 3 years – introduced young women to careers in aviation. JetBlue’s crewmembers also promote access for girls from underserved communities to pursue their interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Since I teach entrepreneurship at Stanford (and am the father of 5 daughters), I’m also interested in attracting women with ideas, leadership skills, and entrepreneurial instincts to launch businesses. To prompt the pipeline of young female entrepreneurs, Brian Weisfeld is publishing a children’s novel, The Startup Squad, to introduce elementary school girls to entrepreneurship.
No celebration of women would be complete without thanking those who choose to devote their energies exclusively to the next generation – not only doing the hardest job on the planet but putting on hold career ambitions to do so.