Mayim Bialik isn’t just a neuroscientist; she also plays one on TV. The 37-year old star of the CBS hit The Big Bang Theorygot her start as the zany teenage lead on “Blossom,” but took years off of Hollywood in the early aughts to pursue first her bachelor’s degree and then her Ph.D. in neuroscience, and has recently teamed up with DeVry Universityand the HerWorld Initiativeto get high school girls excited about STEM.
Which is great news for the sciences. Despite the fact that jobs experts predict growth in employment opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math will grow more than 7% faster than any other sector over the next five years, the number of women pursuing STEM education and career paths. A recent count estimated that women hold just 25% of all jobs in these promising fields, putting the sex at an extreme disadvantage as employment in the U.S. continues to grow more technical every year.
The root of the problem is often debated in gender-conscious circles, but it commonly ends in a chicken-or-egg sort of quandary. Are little girls not interested in math or science because it’s for boys? And if so, where do they get those ideas but from their parents and teachers? Can you attract girls and women to a field that’s so male dominated if not through initiatives that soften the sciences or, worse, pander to women?
Through the HerWorld partnership, which has in the past enlisted another young actress, Danica McKellar, who played Winnie on “The Wonder Years” before pursuing higher education in mathematics, Bialik aims to bring as many real-world role models in science to high schools across the country in hopes that by revealing the depth and breadth of STEM careers, they can recruit more young women to the cause.
This week I got the chance to talk with the actress, educator and mother of two to talk about the STEM gender gap—and her (highly) educated guess as to what can be done.
MC: Why are you so passionate about girls and STEM?
Bialik: It’s really neat that I get to play a neuroscientist on TV, but I think every student is inspired by something different. That’s why it’s important for us as teachers–and people in the position to mentor–to be able to provide girls with as many realistic science situations as possible. To show them that not everyone starts as a scientist but you can still be interested in it later in life. Or how some people want to work in the laboratory and other people want to work in the field—you know to really show the depth of the science experience both personally and professionally.
So as far as my own passion, it’s nice to play a scientist on TV and that, I suppose, makes me a role model. But I also think it’s wonderful to be able to use that platform to be able to influence—hopefully positively—young girls and to show that science is cool.
MC: So who was your role model?
Bialik: I arrived late to science, actually. it wasn’t something I had a natural affinity for, and I really thought it was for boys. Both of my parents were English teachers and [science] just never came easily to me.
But when I was about15 years old, and at that time I was on Blossom, I had a tutor who was the first female role model I ever had who showed me that someone could be as passionate about biology as I thought you could only be about art or poetry. She was young and hip and made the sciences come alive, and it was she that inspired me and really gave me the confidence and the skill-set to go on to a bachelor’s degree and eventually a Pd.H. in neuroscience.
MC: Would you say lack of role models is the biggest hurdle for girls and the STEM career path?
Bialik: I think part of it is the stereotype that science is for boys and part of it is what the HerWorld initiative is trying to address. That there’s this need to show real women doing real careers in STEM.
But I also think that there’s still a stereotype of the lone scientist in the laboratory and that can tend not to sound very exciting or creative to a lot of young people–male or female. I think the point of HerWorld is to expose girls to possibilities in different career paths, to have discussions and to let girls see women and to hear why they made the choices they did, what inspires them and what their lives look like. I think something that’s really missing.
Of course showing fun, high-profile role models also does make it kind of fun. I know we wish that if we presented the nitty-gritty of the universe, then everyone would fall in love with science. But sometimes it takes something a little flashy to grab that attention.
To read the full interview with Forbes' Meghan Casserly and "Big Bang Theory" starMayim Bialik, please visit Forbes.com.
