The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated on February 11, an initiative that emerged from the United Nations just two years ago and aims to promote visibility and support for women scientists and promote women's access and girls to education and research in the sectors of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), where their presence is still very small. The initiative is also one of the proposals of the community of women researchers and scientists to reverse the situation.
Part of that poor visibility and existence of stereotypes is found in the media. I propose 9 films, series, and documentaries where the role of women in science and technology is reflected, and with that, collaborate in the promotion of scientific vocations in girls. Because for now, it is not enough to have outstanding references that tell a story and why they decided to be scientific or what is already being done so that there are more women in science.
Hidden figures
Of the great milestone that supposed to see the first astronaut of the NASA orbit Earth, surely the name of John Glenn will never be forgotten. The film Hidden Figures revolves around that historical moment for NASA (and the US in the Cold War against the Russians) but focused on the figure of three African-Americans unknown until recently but who played a key role within NASA. And not easy for being women (and African-Americans). A world of key human calculators at a time when information technology was still in its infancy.
Agora
Controversial movie of the Spaniard that revolves around Hypatia of Alexandria, role in which the acclaimed actress Rachel Weisz gets involved. This philosopher and teacher are considered as the first mathematical woman, and, for some, a martyr of science at the peak of Christianity.
Jane's Journey
Essential documentary about the life of the most known and important primatologist in history: Jane Goodall. In this story, thanks to interviews and material from Goodall herself, for her life, from her childhood in England to the 45 years she spent studying chimpanzees in Africa. In the trip with Goodall, we can also meet many other (magnificent) scenarios where the conservation and educational projects that have seen the light thanks to their support demonstrate what this scientist has done to raise awareness about the conservation of the planet.
Gravity
We continue with space as the setting for this science fiction thriller where the protagonist is Dr. Ryan Stone, a character played by Sandra Bullock, and whose determination and values
are an essential part of the survival story after an accident at the ISS.
Code Girl
Google presented in 2015 a documentary that shows that programming is also women's thing, encompassed in the initiatives that have been taking place in the US for years so that the percentage of women studying a career related to technology and information technology grows from an anecdotal less than 0.5% that occurred in the US at that time.
'CodeGirl' is directed by the filmmaker Lesley Chilcott, and in it, we can live the stories behind the more than 5,000 young people from more than 60 countries who participated in the Global Technovation Challenge 2015.
Halt and Catch Fire
Four seasons in total covers the review that 'Halt and Catch Fire' gives to the exciting moment lived by the incipient PC industry in the 80s. It does so quite accurately, although companies and characters are pure fiction.
Throughout the four seasons, especially since the second, the roles of the engineer Donna Clark and the programmer Cameron Howe take over the story to practically rotate in the last two around their video game company, with them as CEO, something not usual neither then nor now.
Contact
Robert Zemeckis is responsible for the impeccable invoice of one of the key titles of science fiction of recent years. With the endorsement of being a project initiated by Carl Sagan, 'Contact' brings to the scientific process the role of the human, this time in the hands of a scientist, Ellie Arroway, astrophysicist of the SET program, superbly played by Jodie Foster and He does not give up in his effort to establish communication with extraterrestrial life .
Bombshell: the story of Hedy Lamarr
In the 40s, in Hollywood, a woman stood out especially for her beauty and for having starred in the considered first nude in the commercial film industry. It was Hedy Lamarr. But this woman, as well as an actress, was key so that now we have the current communication systems such as Wifi or Bluetooth.
The documentary tells her impressive personal story, where her marriage of convenience with a magnate in the arms industry and close to fascism, which forced her to stay at home alone, led her to continue with her engineering career and use her contacts and knowledge of the industry to offer information to the US in the Second World War. It is the patent for the technique of modulation of signals in the expanded spectrum that today is the basis of communications such as Wi-Fi.
Marie Curie (2016)
Not very successful in its cinematic value, Marie Curie tells us the story of perhaps the most scientifically recognized woman (winner of two Nobel prizes), an authentic reference of the woman / science relationship and who nevertheless did not have a life exempt from obstacles for being precisely a woman and the stigma of the time with respect to lovers.