'Mission Unstoppable' On CBS Encouraging Girls In STEM

CHICAGO (CBS)-- If you can see it, you can be it. That's especially true when it comes to girls and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

That's why a CBS show called Mission Unstoppable is hoping to encourage girls to go into STEM careers by highlighting female innovators with pretty cool jobs.

Thursday is International Day of Women and Girls in Science. CBS 2's Audrina Bigos talked with one of the Chicago-area scientists on the show about why representation matters.

"My segment where I'm talking about the physics behind makeup, just really grounds this idea of who a scientist is and what they look like," Dr. Jessica Esquivel said. "Representation matters, first and foremost."

Women make up only only 28% of the science and engineering workforce in the U.S.

"When you start looking at the intersections of race and gender and then even sexuality, those numbers drop significantly," Esquivel said. "There's only about 100 to 150 black women with their PhD in physics in the country!"

The biases may start early. A recent study in the Journal of Science found at the age of 6, girls think they're less brilliant than boys and shy away from math and science.

That's why Mission Unstoppable is so important to Jessica; breaking barriers, shattering glass ceilings, all starting with showing science in everyday things, showing jobs you might not even know are science-based.

"Being able to just show the range of what STEM is, and where it is, really just shows how amazing and cool STEM can be," she said.

You can check out all the awesome scientists on Mission Unstoppable Saturdays at 10 a.m. on CBS 2.