Million Women Mentors Announces 1.766 Million Pledge Commitments at Historic Senators Event with 810,895 Completed Mentorships (Nearly 1.9+ Million by December 30, 2017)
Washington, DC (PRWEB) March 13, 2017 -- This movement has now garnered 1.766 million pledges for mentoring relationships (on the way to 2 million) by Million Women Mentors (MWM), launched January 8, 2014 by STEMconnector® as they seized upon the need to build more girls and women in STEM careers. There are 18 Senators scheduled to join during Women’s History Month to recognize the efforts of the MWM movement. STEM jobs provide pay equity, yet only 26% of STEM workers are women. The Senate event salutes the movement with private sector and public sector participation including 87 organizations nationally, 40 state teams and honorary chairs including several Governors and 20 Lt Governors.
Those joining the Salute Luncheon in support of the MWM program include: NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand; MN Senator Amy Klobuchar; CO Senator Michael Bennet; TN Senator Bob Corker; MI Senator Debbie Stabenow; HI Senator Maize Hirono; NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen; AR Senator John Boozman; PA Senator Bob Casey; NJ Senator Cory Booker; FL Senator Marco Rubio; NH Senator Maggie Hassan; OR Senator Jeff Merkley; MD Senator Chris Van Hollen; DE Senator Chris Coons; ND Senator Heidi Heitkamp ; CA Senator Kamala Harris and others. Expected to join is IA Senator Joni Ernst.
National Lt Governors Association Chair and Governor-Elect, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa is the Honorary Chair of MWM for the States said, “I am so proud to serve MWM for Iowa and the United States, as STEM is a driving force behind economic growth, stability and educational success.” Governor Terry McAuliffe officially launched MWM in VA and at the launch noted, “I am proud to be the first governor to serve as the Honorary Chair for Million Women Mentors effort.”
“Congress and public officials in our states recognize the importance of moving the needle for opportunities for women and girls toward great jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM),” said Edie Fraser, CEO of STEMconnector® and MWM. “We are proving that we can advance women and girls for great careers through mentoring and support by changing the career and jobs opportunities for millions.”
Did you know:
• 71% of American jobs in 2018 will require STEM skills.
• STEM jobs pay 92 cents on a dollar for women and 96 cents for tech jobs.
• Interest in STEM for girls upon graduation has been declining to 15.6% today vs. 44% of boys; and only 4% of 368,000 girls who plan to pursue STEM said a mentor encouraged them, according to research from My College Options.
• Employees who mentored were promoted six times more often than their peers who did not mentor (Wharton Study).
Mentors are needed to impact these numbers. With MWM, mentors and mentees commit to a minimum of 20 hours through a variety of platforms for the purpose of impacting their career paths. Pledges are significant with our companies, organizations and states as they are converted to mentoring relationship.
Recent state pledges include efforts from TN, IA, IL, NM, MA, AL and other states along with a newly formed Native American Council who pledged 50,000. We have received several hundred thousand pledges from a variety of different partner organizations. Corporate pledges and state pledges are in the offing to get MWM to 2 million by end of the year. Our highest pledge to date is University of Iowa with 49 state program commitments and 300,000 pledges followed by Jason Learning and Science Olympiad. We are currently at 1.766 million pledges with over 810,895 actualized pledges to date!
MWM leads a national call to action with many corporate sponsors. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has contributed by building the web site, MillionWomenMentors.org along with their counted pledges of 55,000. Other supporters of the movement include PepsiCo, BP, Cisco Systems, Walmart, Deloitte, Johnson & Johnson, Credit Suisse, Sprint, Cigna, Lockheed Martin, General Motors, Carnival, Glenmede and an additional 50 firms including women entrepreneur firms such as GravityPro, Pinnacle Group, TechnaLink, TiViTz, MIND Research and over 30 others.
We encourage you to participate by visiting MillionWomenMentors.org and pledge. Follow us on Twitter with more than 23 million impressions @MillionWMentors.
About Million Women Mentors(MWM)
Million Women Mentors is a massive movement, supporting the engagement of millions of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) mentors (female and male) to increase the interest and confidence of girls and women to persist and succeed in STEM programs and careers. MWM is an initiative of STEMconnector in collaboration with over 87 partners reaching over 30 million girls and women, 60 corporate sponsors, and 40 state leadership teams. MillionWomenMentors.org
About STEMconnector®
STEMconnector® is a consortium of companies, associations, societies, policy organizations, government entities, universities and academic institutions concerned with STEM education and the future of human capital. With several products and services, STEMconnector® is both a resource and a service, designed to link “all things STEM.” STEMconnector’s network includes organizations at the global, national, state and local levels. STEMconnector® focuses on the STEM workforce and jobs, with a particular emphasis on diversity and women. Our work spans the entire pipeline (Kindergarten to Jobs) and how STEM education experiences translate into careers. To learn more, visit http://www.STEMconnector.org
Media Contacts:
Michael DuBois
STEMconnector
michael.dubois(at)STEMconnector(dot)org
202-296-3118
Jordan Bullock
STEMconnector
jordan.bullock(at)STEMconnector(dot)org
202-304-1960
Ted Wells, STEMconnector®, +1 202-677-5834, [email protected]
Share this article