Growing up as a scientist, I didn’t see role models who looked like me. I grew up in a small town where my father was a physicist—and my role model. He nurtured me to be a scientist, just like him. I’m so grateful he didn’t have different expectations for my brothers and me. He always told me that I could be anything that I wanted. Today, I am a Ph.D. scientist, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Undersecretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology, and the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). All of these are professional roles that fulfill me and in which I’m incredibly honored to serve.
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During my career, I have seen that many women in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) have had similar experiences as they advanced in education and at work: A paucity of women in STEM has meant that some of our most impactful advocates and mentors have been people different from us.
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We cannot afford to waste human potential
A new "waste" in the Toyota Production System context is waste of human potential (the eighth waste). A country that does not welcome and include women at all levels in its workforce is wasting half of its human potential; the same principle applies to not welcoming anybody who can do the job due to his/her EEOC-protected characteristics.
As stated by the author, in fact, there is an impending shortage of STEM professionals which is actually a replay of the situation we faced during the Second World War. When men joined or were drafted into the Armed Forces, we had a skilled labor shortage in our factories that was filled successfully by Rosie the Riveter; we learned quickly that women could in fact be machinists, welders, shipfitters, quality inspectors, and so on.
The attitude of the Axis was, however, quite different as reported by the National World War II museum. "The Axis powers, on the other hand, were slow to employ women in their war industries. [Germany] derided Americans as degenerate for putting their women to work." That obviously did not work out very well for them. We need to carry over the same attitude into today's era to ensure that we use all of our country's human potential.
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