Girl scouts are getting more young women into science – here’s how

It's not all knot-tying and identifying plants.

Now, the scouts are doing their bit to encourage more young girls to get involved in the science and tech industries. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts have recently revamped their image to include achievement badges for science and technology related activities like coding, app-design, and mechanics. This year, Girl Guiding UK ran their own social media campaign asking women and girls to submit their ideas for new badges. Using the hashtag #BadgeGoals, the charity received over 15,000 suggestions - many of which were related to STEM research, online safety, and programming. Research conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute showed that over 70 percent of girls were interested in pursuing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) related careers. The only problem was encouraging these girls to continue with their passion once they reached college. Science and tech related jobs contain one of the most startling gender gaps in any profession. According to a study conducted by the National Centre for Women & Information Technology, the amount of women in computing jobs hits its peak in 1991... and has been on a steady decline since. Similarly, women under the age of 25 in the tech industry typically earn a massive 29 percent less than their male colleagues. The list goes on. But the Girl Scouts are doing what they can to change this. Back in 1909, a number of girls showed up to a Boy Scouts gathering at the Crystal Palace in London, and proceeded to have their own meeting. Ever since, the Girl Scouts have shown their keen interest in scouting, guiding, and basically doing everything that boys can do too. This year, UK Student Catherine Young has taken it upon herself to encourage more girls' interests in engineering. Speaking to the BBC, the 16 year old said that she has been lobbying politicians to make the subject more available to young girls.

"There is a huge lack of female engineers due to the subject not being available, or girls not knowing about it, and we need more females to bring new ideas that could solve Earth's biggest problems."

A complete revamp of the Scouts' badging system is happening at the moment, and it is very likely that coding and mechanics will be added to the list of achievements.