Aileen Lee Quotes

Success in math and the hard sciences, far from being a matter of gender, is almost entirely dependent on culture - a culture that teaches girls math isn't cool and no one will date them if they excel in physics.

I love math and science, and also, my mom is a doctor. I grew up not even having an awareness that women were not supposed to be good at science.

For whatever reason, I didn't succumb to the stereotype that science wasn't for girls. I got encouragement from my parents. I never ran into a teacher or a counselor who told me that science was for boys. A lot of my friends did.

At Swarthmore, the Dean of Women was very opposed to women going into science or engineering - so opposed that if she couldn't talk a girl out of it, she just never had anything more to do with her for the four years she was there.

Negative gender stereotypes related to girls' education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics begin as early as primary school and have the devastating effect of making them doubt their own potential.

I have met a lot of women who are good at math.

Being interested in science and engineering is not a male quality.

There was never a perception that I was second-class relative to boys. That gave me confidence.

If you look at other countries, you'll find lots of girls doing physics, engineering, and science. It's something to do with the kind of culture we have in the English-speaking world about what's appropriate for each of the two sexes.

When I was growing up, I had lots of smart classmates that were girls, but none of us were really pushed into math or computers or anything like that. Girls took AP history and AP English and AP European history. And boys took calculus and physics.

If all girls turn strong within themselves, men with bad intentions can be taught apt lessons.

Representation is so important because it's hard for kids to want to be what they can't see. Little girls and boys need to know that it's natural for girls to love science and tech.

I wanted to become an engineer and I believed in myself. I was the lone girl to enrol for engineering studies, then. But the college provided me an opportunity to excel in my life.

If I have children, I am never going to read them stories about finding Prince Charming because they will grow up feeling disappointed.

When parents ask why there are still so few girls in advanced science and math classes in high school, I tell them, because girls still need way more encouragement than boys to take those courses.

I want to make everyone believe that they can understand math and science.

I have so many girlfriends who are powerhouses: They have big careers, are fearless in traveling in third-world countries or a launching non-profit. But they won't text a guy for fear of being perceived as desperate. That is broken.

One thing that was very important to me was that I felt comfortable in the lab from being very, very small. I knew that that's where I belonged, and I could fix things and move things. And no matter how many classrooms I went into where I was the only girl in the physics class or whatever, I never questioned the fact that I didn't belong there.

Given that many girls are indoctrinated to believe that they should be feminine and modest about their abilities, as well as brought up to assume that girls are not innately gifted at science or math, it is not surprising that so few can see themselves as successful computer scientists.

As members of society, we should always be pushing our girls to strive to be the best and to speak up and out about issues we see.

I think there really needs to be a culture change because young girls are very interested in math and science, but somewhere along the way, they veer off of that.

All growing up, the outside world wants to tell you what you can and cannot do as a female - what sports are acceptable, what sports are appropriate, what is appropriate to study, what is appropriate to say. But luckily, I have a strong family, and my mom is the most amazing mom in the world. She never let me worry about biases.

One thing I learned is that I don't want to be in an all-girl band again. Besides, most of my friends are guys, anyway.

Aside from introducing and supporting legislation to help close the gender gap in STEM, I believe that shining the spotlight on female role models is one of the best ways we can break the gender stereotype.

In the so-called age of girl power, we have failed to cut loose our most regressive standards of female success - like pleasing others and looking sexy - and to replace them with something more progressive - like valuing intelligence and hard work.