Today is Ada Lovelace Day! Celebrate the achievements of women in science! Encourage a girl to get an education in science! At the very least, read Sydney Padua's Lovelace-The Origin and smile.
The date of Ada Lovelace Day is rather arbitrary. But I like that it is right after Columbus Day. Columbus Day we should remember the sobering facts of where the U.S. came from by having a day for a racist genocidal rapist (as a friend of mine commented, "nothin' more American!" which is unfortunately true). Lovelace Day we remember that we do have wonderfully smart people and we can get to a point that is better than where we are now.
My grandmother told me once that when she was a girl, chemistry classes were only for women because supposedly it would help them cook better. Let's never go back to that. It is fashionable to relegate sexism to something that happens places not America, but there is an unfortunate movement in the U.S. for women to not go to college, and either live at home or work menial jobs until marriage. That's not okay. Education is power for people to think for ourselves and make our own choices. Whether that choice is to stay at home and getting married or a career in super science or anything in between or any combination of things, it's a choice that is ours and no one else should have the power to make for us.
Like much of the rest of the internet, I have been fangirling over Malala Yousafzai. She is just such a wonderful human being. Her main goal is education for women, because, as she says, "education is power." Indeed. Women who are educated, and not just in those things we are told are suitable for women, have the power to decide for ourselves our role, our dress, and our lives, in a world that prefers to dictate all of that to women.
So Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Encourage a girl who is interested in a traditionally male-dominated field of study! Encourage all girls in their education!
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