We have found over the years that girls tend to have very little information or awareness about [technical careers] other than what is provided through role models in their families and communities... We need to help [young women] understand that the world of work is for everyone and every person can do any job that they choose to do.

Nothing will change unless we address the education process and what is happening to girls in the schools...[The school system] has not provided the information for young women and girls to know that there are opportunities out there beyond what they have seen on television or learned in their homes.

Women continue to be grossly under-represented in fields that are nontraditional for their gender. For example, girls make up 87 percent of students enrolled in career and technical education classes leading to traditionally female occupations while they comprise only 15 percent of those taking classes in traditionally male fields. Even worse, in some fields [computer and information sciences] women's gains are slowly eroding.