Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin visited his childhood hometown of Magnolia last week as a speaker at Southern Arkansas University’s Alumni Pavilion for a Friday morning event. The presentation came as part of the state official’s participation in the Million Women Mentor program.
Griffin specifically addressed how educators and women in positions of influence can better guide young girls into the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) career fields, which lack females both on a national and state level.
“When a young man graduates high school, at least 45 percent of them have an interest in STEM fields for a career,” said Griffin. “For young women, it’s 14 percent.”
The Lt. Gov. cited possible cultural reasons as to why the numbers were so low but noted that an introduction to such fields at a young age can help girls feel more comfortable.
The initiative is designed to both add to the state’s STEM workforce, to help lure more tech- and engineering-centered companies to Arkansas, and to fill those jobs with Americans instead of sourcing foreign nationals via the H-1B visa program.
“We need to focus on the area of young women if we want to quickly move those numbers up to where they need to be,” said Griffin.