{"id":100256,"date":"2019-07-24T06:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T13:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/?p=100256"},"modified":"2019-07-26T14:52:35","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T21:52:35","slug":"changing-perspectives-girl-scouts-palo-alto-networks-creating-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/changing-perspectives-girl-scouts-palo-alto-networks-creating-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Girl Scouts and Palo Alto Networks Are Creating Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lindsey Sanford is the Global Employer Brand Program Manager at Palo Alto Networks. She lives in Reno, Nevada, and has been a Girl Scout Troop leader for two years. Her Girl Scouts have earned all three Daisy cybersecurity badges, and are pursuing badges in engineering and programming. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the mid-60s to late 70s, 4,807 elementary school students were asked to draw a scientist. Of the 4,807 drawings created by these children, 28 pictured women.\u00a0Not 28%, just 28.<\/p>\n

Less than 1% (0.6%) of the 4,807 kids drew scientists as women.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, an article mentioning that study came across my desk as I was frantically searching for an activity to do at an upcoming Girl Scout meeting. And it honestly stunned me. I have a seven-year-old daughter whose aspirations change from lifeguard to dancer to singer to scientist to engineer to ballerina \u2014 and that\u2019s just in one day. Her passion for her life and the optimism she has about the choices available to her have led me to believe that maybe this study isn\u2019t so true any longer.<\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0I put it to the test, obviously in an environment that wasn\u2019t \u201cofficial.\u201d I asked my troop of 18 girls to draw a scientist. I gave them no other parameters, just the simple direction:\u00a0 draw a scientist.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>All but one of the girls in my troop drew a woman.<\/p>\n

The study has been repeated multiple times throughout the years. After all, the 70s were quite some time ago, and a lot has changed \u2014 women\u2019s rights have evolved. More women than ever before are going to school, going back to school, and getting into new career fields. Since the first study, over 20,000 children\u2019s drawings have been analyzed, and from the 1980s on, the percentage of scientists drawn as women has increased to 28%.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s still a problem.<\/p>\n

As girls grow up, the percentage drawing scientists as women declines. When kids are younger than 10, the percentage drawing a woman as a scientist can be as high as 70%. But after the age of ten, 75% are drawing men.<\/p>\n

As girls mature, they are receiving messages somewhere<\/em> that are making their assumptions, their possibilities, change. And while there is so much progress, there is still work left to do.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where organizations like Girl Scouts of the USA come in. Girl Scouts\u2019 leadership continuously identifies new curriculums to share with girls throughout the course of their involvement with the organization \u2014 introducing them to new sciences and new career paths.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/div><\/p>\n

One curriculum that is especially close to my heart is cybersecurity. In July 2018, the Girl Scouts, in partnership with Palo Alto Networks, created a series of badges to introduce young girls in grades K-5 to cybersecurity. Nine badges were created to progress girls through curriculums designed to introduce cybersecurity concepts, helping them grasp a complex industry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/div>
This is Taylor Schmitt, Lindsey\u2019s daughter, who earned all three of her Daisy Cybersecurity Badges in the fall of 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last week, Palo Alto Networks and the Girl Scouts announced another nine badges<\/a> for girls in grades 6-12, crucial years of self-discovery for young women. These badges will take girls through the workings of computer technology, providing them with the understanding of safety and protection in the digital age. They\u2019ll get a taste of real-world hacking, providing a glimpse into the world those in the cybersecurity industry face each day.<\/p>\n

While this is just one of the new ways we continue to find to reinvigorate young women\u2019s opportunities in the world of science, it\u2019s one that I take great pleasure in pursuing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lindsey Sanford is the Global Employer Brand Program Manager at Palo Alto Networks. She lives in Reno, Nevada, and has been a Girl Scout Troop leader for two years. Her Girl Scouts …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":100525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6719],"tags":[3850],"coauthors":[6811],"class_list":["post-100256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-company-culture","tag-girl-scouts-of-the-usa"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/GSUSA-1.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100256"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100539,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100256\/revisions\/100539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100256"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=100256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}