A year ago this month, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to the president, launched the Equal Futures Partnership to advance women’s economic and political participation and promote their engagement in science, technology, engineering and math fields.
Improving the STEM field for women has been a top priority of the current administration, and this week the White House reaffirmed that pledge.
At this week’s U.N General Assembly, Jarrett co-hosted an event celebrating the one-year anniversary of the partnership. Founding members delivered progress reports and new members from Italy, Japan, Mexico and Switzerland pledged to support the partnership.
Women comprise one quarter of STEM workers, and earn on average 33 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts. NASA’s Digital Learning Network unites NASA professionals and students nationwide through Web-conferencing tools enabling in-depth discussion of STEM topics. This year, DLN will host more events geared toward women, including several during Women’s History Month 2014.
The National Science Foundation will be connecting with researchers involved with current NSF research to encourage proposals aimed at advancing women and girls in STEM education.
In a White House blog post, Jarrett said the administration is looking forward to the future work of the partnership and the launch of “new mechanisms within the partnership to share best practices and report on progress toward commitments, and in which members will also assess their progress and identify new, strengthened commitments for action.”
