Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day invites curiosity to do something practical: take engineering out of the “mysterious grown-up job” category and put it back where it belongs, in everyday problem-solving. It’s a day built around the idea that girls should see engineering as a welcoming, creative, people-focused path, not...
Position your engineering or tech brand as a champion of diversity and future talent by hosting or sponsoring hands-on Girl Day events that showcase real engineers solving real problems.
- Feature female engineers from your company sharing their career journey and a project they're proud of
- Host a live problem-solving challenge event where girls work alongside engineers on a real-world design task
- Create behind-the-scenes content showing what a day in the life of a female engineer actually looks like
- Partner with schools to provide mentorship panels that break down myths about engineering careers
Campaign ideas7
- Host a hands-on STEM activity booth at local schools or community events—teach girls to build something (rockets, bridges, structures) and have female engineers demo their work alongside them
- Partner with Girl Scouts or local youth orgs to sponsor an in-person or hybrid engineering showcase event; include Q&A with female engineers and mentorship sign-ups
- Launch a 'Meet the Engineer' video series featuring your company's female engineers sharing career stories, daily job tasks, and why they love their field—post across LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok
- Create a limited-time scholarship or internship opportunity exclusively for girls; promote heavily through schools, social media, and education networks in early February
- Sponsor a virtual or in-person 'shadow an engineer' day where girls can follow an employee for a few hours and see real engineering work in action
- Develop low-cost DIY engineering activity kits (using everyday materials) and distribute free to schools ahead of Girl Day; include QR codes linking to your brand story
- Run a social media challenge (e.g., #EngineerSheHeroes) asking girls to share photos/videos of women in STEM they admire, with prizes for winners
Ad copy starters5
“Think engineers sit at desks doing math? Meet Julia—aerospace engineer, rock climber, future builder. She's changing how rockets fly. Girl Day: Feb 26. Register free. #EngineersChange theWorld”
“69% of girls who meet an engineer say it shifts their whole future. Be the spark. Host a Girl Day event or volunteer as a mentor. Let's close the gap. #IntroduceAGirlToEngineering”
“Engineering isn't just a job—it's solving the world's biggest problems. Girls, come build something real on Girl Day. Your future starts here.”
“Your daughter doesn't know what an engineer does yet. Let's change that. Free Girl Day event Feb 26: hands-on STEM, real engineers, no prerequisites.”
“Women are 16% of engineers. They should be 50%. Girl Day is the start. Bring your daughter, niece, or student. Register now for free.”
The origins of Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day go back to 2001, when DiscoverE created the initiative to encourage girls to explore engineering and see it as a realistic and rewarding career path.
From the start, the aim was simple but powerful: to challenge the idea that engineering is “for men” and to show girls that they belong in spaces where problems are solved, systems are designed, and the future is shaped.
By placing Girl Day within Engineers Week, the message became even clearer. Engineering is part of everyday life, and society benefits when people with different perspectives take part in creating solutions.
Hands-on learning has always been at the heart of the day. Instead of focusing mainly on grades, formulas, or long-term academic requirements, Girl Day events typically invite participants to think and act like engineers right away.
Design challenges, experiments, and collaborative tasks mirror how engineering works in practice. Engineers learn by doing: building, testing, revising, and working together. Girl Day reflects that reality.
As the initiative grew, it also became a meaningful way for engineers to give back. Many engineers love their work but rarely have opportunities to explain it to young people.
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day creates a clear and welcoming reason to step into classrooms, community spaces, and youth programs. By sharing real stories, demonstrations, and challenges, engineers help translate abstract ideas into lived experience.
These moments can be especially powerful. Hearing how an engineer struggled, made mistakes, and persisted can help girls see their own learning challenges differently—not as signs they don’t belong, but as normal parts of growth.
Over time, the day expanded in both scale and visibility. Today, educators, universities, professional associations, companies, and community groups around the world host events. Some are large, festival-style programs with many activities and stations.
Others are small, focused workshops where one group dives deeply into a single challenge. Both approaches serve the same purpose: building curiosity, confidence, and a sense of belonging in engineering.
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day has also evolved alongside broader conversations about representation in STEM. While the focus remains on addressing gender gaps in engineering, many programs now recognize that barriers can look different for different students.
The most effective events emphasize encouragement, inclusive teamwork, and realistic portrayals of engineering careers. Rather than presenting engineering as only difficult or technical, they highlight its human side: creativity, problem-solving, communication, and the desire to make life better.
At its strongest, the day works as both an invitation and a starting point. It invites girls to imagine themselves as problem-solvers and gives them a concrete first step. Try a challenge. Meet an engineer. Ask questions. Leave knowing that engineering isn’t distant or abstract. It’s a way of thinking they can practice right now, using their own ideas and their own hands.
Engage with Local Engineers
Reach out to local engineers—especially women—and invite them to talk with girls about their careers. This can happen in a formal setting like a school, or in a more relaxed space such as a community center or even someone’s living room. The setting matters less than the conversation itself. To make these talks genuinely meaningful, it helps to look past job titles. A good facilitator can guide engineers to share things girls rarely hear about: What a normal workday actually looks like, including teamwork, meetings, problem-solving, and hands-on tasksA project they’re proud of, explained in simple, everyday languageA mistake they made and how they worked through it—often the most reassuring and empowering partThe path they took through school or training, including changes of direction and unexpected turnsThe deeper motivation behind their work, such as improving safety, accessibility, health, or sustainability If possible, invite more than one engineer. Engineering is collaborative by nature, and a small panel highlights diversity in personalities, specialties, and career paths. It also increases the chance that every girl hears a story she can relate to. Adding a light interactive element can make the session even more engaging. Instead of a long presentation, try brief introductions followed by a simple challenge that the engineer helps guide. Ideas like “Build the tallest freestanding tower with these materials” or “Design a way to move an object without touching it” turn the engineer into a coach. That shared building time reflects how engineers really work: thinking together, testing ideas, and learning through doing.
Participate in Engineering Activities
There are plenty of engineering activities available online that are created with girls in mind. These hands-on challenges help demystify what engineers actually do and show how engineering shapes everyday life. When selecting activities, it’s best to choose ones with more than one possible outcome. Real engineering rarely has a single “right” answer. Open-ended tasks encourage the habits that matter most: planning, testing, improving, and explaining choices. Some timeless, low-cost activities that work well in classrooms, youth groups, or at home include: Bridge building: Use simple materials like paper, craft sticks, or string to build a bridge and test how much weight it can support. Redesign it using what you learn from the first attempt.Rubber-band cars: Create a small car powered by a rubber band. Experiment with wheel size, axle friction, and how energy is stored and released.Paper prototypes: Design an improved version of an everyday object using paper models, such as a better backpack pocket, a phone stand, or a spill-resistant lid. This introduces design thinking and user-focused problem solving.Coding with a purpose: Program a simple animation or robot to complete a mission, like delivering supplies across a pretend disaster zone. This helps connect code to real-world impact.Water filtration challenge: Filter muddy water using layers of common materials. This naturally introduces constraints, trade-offs, testing, and iteration. To keep the experience positive, it helps to frame “failure” as information. A collapsed bridge or a car that won’t move isn’t the end of the activity—it’s the starting point for a better design.
Visit Engineering Sites
If possible, organize a visit to a local engineering environment, such as a construction project, manufacturing facility, or software company. Seeing engineers at work can be a powerful source of motivation. The most meaningful visits are structured around curiosity rather than a quick walk-through. Effective elements include: A clear story: What problem is this place solving? What does success look like?Visible roles: Highlight the range of jobs involved. Engineering teams include designers, technicians, testers, project managers, safety experts, and data analysts.A focus on testing: Many people picture engineering as only building. Seeing how ideas are tested, measured, and verified can be eye-opening.A “spot the engineering” activity: Ask participants to look for sensors, safety features, quality checks, materials choices, or automated systems—and discuss why they matter. When in-person visits aren’t possible, virtual tours or engineer-led show-and-tell sessions can be just as effective. Everyday objects like bike helmets, reusable bottles, or simple circuits can reveal how much engineering hides in plain sight.
Use Online Resources
Websites such as EngineerGirl.com offer profiles of women engineers, explanations of different engineering fields, and links to helpful learning materials. Online content works best when paired with conversation and reflection. After reading or watching something, ask questions that help girls connect the material to their own interests: What problems does this engineer care about?Which skills show up in their work—creativity, communication, math, patience?What was surprising?What sounded fun, and what sounded challenging? At home, families can turn the day into a mini design lab by choosing one small household problem and approaching it like engineers. Tangled cords, crushed snacks, or messy desks are great starting points. Brainstorming, sketching, and building simple prototypes with cardboard or tape makes engineering feel familiar and achievable.
Promote Engineering in Schools
Encourage schools to spend time talking about engineering careers and the role of women in these fields through assemblies, career days, or guest speakers. Engineering can also be woven into everyday lessons instead of being treated as a one-off topic: Science classes can focus on experiments that lead to design improvements, such as creating better insulation or testing wind turbine variables.Math classes can apply concepts to real constraints like measurement accuracy, budgeting, scaling, and data presentation.Language arts can highlight communication skills engineers use, including writing instructions, pitching ideas, and documenting results.Art classes can explore product design, ergonomics, and how appearance affects usability. Keeping activities accessible is key. Expensive kits can create barriers, while simple materials and creative limits often lead to deeper engagement. Working within constraints reflects a core truth of engineering: limitations are part of the process. Ultimately, the aim isn’t just to introduce girls to engineering, but to help them see themselves as future engineers. That message becomes real when girls are trusted with responsibility—leading the build, explaining their ideas, and sharing what they learned. Confidence grows when their thinking is valued, not when they’re only watching someone else do the interesting work. Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day Timeline1905Nora Stanton Blatch Becomes First Female Member of ASCE After earning her civil engineering degree from Cornell University, Nora Stanton Blatch is admitted as the first female associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, challenging professional barriers for women engineers. 1912 Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu Earns Engineering Degree in Berlin Romanian-born Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu graduated from the Royal Academy of Technology in Berlin, becoming one of the first women in Europe to obtain an engineering degree and later mentoring young engineers in Romania. 1918 Edith Clarke Earns Graduate Degree in Electrical Engineering Edith Clarke completed a master’s degree in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, becoming the first woman to do so and paving the way for her influential work in power transmission. [1]1972 Title IX Prohibits Sex Discrimination in U.S. Education The United States enacts Title IX of the Education Amendments, which bars sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and helps expand opportunities for girls and women in science and engineering education. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html 2019 Women Reach More Than One-Fifth of U.S. Engineering Bachelor’s Degrees Data from the American Society for Engineering Education show women earn 21.9 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering in the United States, reflecting growing participation while signaling continuing gender gaps.
Nora Stanton Blatch Becomes First Female Member of ASCE
After earning her civil engineering degree from Cornell University, Nora Stanton Blatch is admitted as the first female associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, challenging professional barriers for women engineers.
Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu Earns Engineering Degree in Berlin
Romanian-born Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu graduated from the Royal Academy of Technology in Berlin, becoming one of the first women in Europe to obtain an engineering degree and later mentoring young engineers in Romania.
Edith Clarke Earns Graduate Degree in Electrical Engineering
Edith Clarke completed a master’s degree in electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, becoming the first woman to do so and paving the way for her influential work in power transmission. [1]
Title IX Prohibits Sex Discrimination in U.S. Education
The United States enacts Title IX of the Education Amendments, which bars sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and helps expand opportunities for girls and women in science and engineering education. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html
Women Reach More Than One-Fifth of U.S. Engineering Bachelor’s Degrees
Data from the American Society for Engineering Education show women earn 21.9 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering in the United States, reflecting growing participation while signaling continuing gender gaps.