On March 11, 2009, President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. In his remarks at the signing, the President underscored that the purpose of the Council is "to ensure that each of the agencies in which they're charged takes into account the needs of women and girls in the policies they draft, the programs they create, the legislation they support" and that the true purpose of our government is "to ensure that in America, all things are still possible for all people."
The Energy Department's branch of the Council is composed of employees from multiple program offices and National Labs, and we've come together to serve as an informal advisor to Secretary Chu on devising meaningful ways to increase the participation of women in the science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) workforce and assisting women-owned businesses to compete in the domestic and international markets.
Our Goals
- Goal 1: Improve the lives of female Energy Department employees and their families through programs that enhance work/life balance.
- Goal 2: Ensure equal access to opportunities for women-owned businesses in the energy sector.
- Goal 3: Increase participation of women in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by supporting female elementary, middle and high school students, female undergraduate and graduate students in institutions of higher education via financial assistance, research and development support, and training and workforce development.
- Goal 4: Work in collaboration with the White House and other Federal agencies to promote women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics across the Federal government and through international cooperative efforts.
Our Research
Check out agency reports about the challenges for women and girls here.
Our Activities
C3E: Thirty distinguished women, three energy ministers, and eight governments came together to launch the Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) women’s initiative at the first Clean Energy Ministerial, with a mission to inspire and connect women around clean energy issues in order to attract more young women to these important careers and support their advancement into leadership positions. Learn more about their work, including the C3E Ambassadors and the Awards program on their website.
Title IX Reviews: The Office of Civil Rights is responsible for running at least two reviews annually at institutions that receive Federal financial assistance, to ensure that the institution is following Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all educational programs and activities for institutions receiving federal financial assistance.
Christo Rey High School Partnership: A grant to create a High School internship program for students interested in STEM careers to work for the Energy Department during the academic year or on breaks from school. At the completion of the program, students pursuing careers in STEM may be eligible for scholarships. The program provided $5000 scholarships to four students.
Office of Science: Through programs such as Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships, Community College internships, Graduate Student Fellowships, and Faculty and Student Teams, our National Laboratories run by the Office of Science are providing mentor-intensive research experiences for undergraduate students to enhance their content knowledge in science and mathematics and their investigative expertise; to inspire interest in pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers and K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education; and to retain these students within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics pipeline. At the National Science Bowl, high school and middle school students participate in a nation-wide competition to test their knowledge of STEM fields and encourage students to explore careers in STEM.
Ames Laboratory: Faculty and Student Team and Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships bring in students to work with Ames Laboratory. Iowa State University Programming Support: The University Committee on Women, Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, Women’s Leadership Consortium and Women’s Network offer support for women at Ames Laboratory.
Argonne National Lab: Argonne's Women in Science and Technology (WIST) group provide resources, leadership, and vision to women in STEM at Argonne, promoting equality at all levels at Argone. They run Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day: Girls in sixth through eighth grade were invited to learn about career opportunities in science and engineering during the annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. WIST also organizes an event called "Science Careers in Search of Women," a First Friday Forum, and the Maria Goeppert Mayer Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Brookhaven Laboratory: The position of Women’s Program Coordinator was established in 1975 to ensure the lab develops policies and programs that respond to the needs of its women employees.
FermiLab: Women in Physics: Website collection hosts women in physics resources/statistics, youth education site, status report on women in physics, success stories of women, images of women at work, and list of laboratory women’s groups and advocacy groups. Women in Science and Technology (WIST) Group: Diversity Council: Planned Women’s History Month and catalogued women in the Fermilab community. During March, the Diversity office brought in guest speakers, including Dr. Sandra Hanson, to discuss research opportunities.
Laurence Livermore National Laboratory: Expanding Your Horizons Conference: The daylong conference introduces young women in sixth through twelfth grade toscience, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.. Workshops and professional engineers walk the girls through topics like DNA manipulation, electricity, computer building and rocket engineering.
Los Alamos National Laboratory: Expanding Your Horizons Conference: encourages students to join Los Alamos National Lab’s conference to learn about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. Los Alamos National Laboratory's Star Award recognizes women who “go above and beyond the call of duty in the performance of their job functions, women who have achieved scientific or technical success, and women who make important contributions to the community.” Women’s Diversity Working Group: An internal Los Alamos National Laboratory group hosts guest speakers, organizes laboratory events like the Women’s History Month celebration, and other activities that enrich the lives of the laboratory’s workforce.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory: Oak Ridge National LaboratoryCommittee for Women: Runs events like the Women in Science and Engineering Conference and promotes science, engineering, technology, and mathematics training for local community high school and college students, including women and girls.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: Young Women in Science Program: Offering an eight-week summer research internship to current female juniors and seniors in high school who want to study STEM in college.
Related Programs:
http://www.changetheequation.org/