"Who's my pretty girl?" a mother asks lovingly as her toddler plays. In Verizon's powerful ad, we watch the toddler grow to a young teen who is directly and indirectly discouraged from embracing her love of science. Don't make a mess. Be careful. Let your brother do that. Don't touch that. In the end, the girl pauses in front of a poster for the 8th-grade science fair. Instead of reading it, she looks at her reflection in the glass and puts some lip gloss on. The moment is understated and absolutely devastating.
Photo credit: Verizon Wireless/YouTube
"Isn't it time we told her she's pretty brilliant, too?" the narrator asks.
This jaw-dropping statistic follows: 66 percent of 4th-grade girls say they like math and science. Only 18 percent of college engineering majors are female.
Verizon and Makers paired up to create this simple, stunning video. It reminds us to examine the messages we give our kids every day. Parental support is a huge part of girls' interest in science, technology, engineering and math. As girls develop, shouldn't we be telling them they're capable and smart before we tell them that they're pretty? Confidence in abilities, not appearance, propels girls into STEM fields. If we want our girls to reach for the sky, it's time to stop weighing them down.
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