Take Your Girls to See Black Panther

February 22 is Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, and I’ve got a great way to do that! Take your girls to see BLACK PANTHER!

If you missed my BLACK PANTHER review, you can read about how much I loved the film in my review post. While I think EVERYONE should see BLACK PANTHER, I especially think this is an important movie for girls to see.

Statistically, women are much less likely than men to pursue a career in the science, technology, engineering or mathematics fields. (STEM) Though half of the total U.S. college educated population are women, only 29% are in science or engineering fields. Of those, an even lower percent are in the engineering, computer or math fields. Why?

Girls seem to peak in their interest in these fields around age 11 and then the interest drops off again around age 15. What happens when girls are 15? Well, there’s peer pressure to conform to the norm! Science and math are “boring” and for boys. Sadly, this is how a lot of girls are pressured to think.

BLACK PANTHER gives girls an amazing example in Princess Shuri and the women of Wakanda. If you haven’t seen BLACK PANTHER yet, Wakanda is a fictional, technologically advanced African nation that is shrouded from the rest of the world. The rest of the world thinks Wakanda is a third world nation of farmers.

Wakanda and Technology

In BLACK PANTHER, Wakanda is the most technologically advanced nation in the world. “As fantastical as the world of Wakanda is, the writing team made sure that the spiritual, the mystical and the technological influences in the country’s culture were still anchored in the real world with relatable characters to allow the audiences to take in a tangible, yet remarkable experience.” (From BLACK PANTHER production notes)

Shuri

Yes, there are other amazing women in Wakanda and BLACK PANTHER, but Shuri is the one you should be talking about with your girls when it comes to engineering and technology. Shuri is a young PRINCESS for goodness sakes, yet she is the top scientist in the entire country of Wakanda. She is the innovator of Black Panther’s suits and technology.

The amazing actress Letitia Wright plays Shuri in BLACK PANTHER. Describing Shuri, Wright says, “Shuri is someone who’s very innovative. She takes care of the technology side of everything that’s going on in Wakanda. She designs exciting, cool things that we’re going to see in the film. Her brain is always working, and she’s always thinking of solutions to help her country and building gadgets and things like better armor. Shuri’s mission in the film is expanding and improving Wakanda, helping her brother and being a positive part of the story.”

Shuri is someone girls can look up to as a role model. She is funny, snarky and smart. She’s not just a princess looking for a prince. She’s a rock star! The technology she creates is so cool, and she’s not afraid to get into the action herself. She is brave and beautiful both inside and out. I love that the BLACK PANTHER writers recognized that girls needed a role model who loves science, technology, engineering and math. They gave us an amazing one in Shuri.

BLACK PANTHER Trailer

Go take your daughters, nieces, granddaughters, neighbor girls to see BLACK PANTHER! Let them see Shuri come to life on the big screen. Let them revel in the amazing technology that Shuri has engineered. Most of all, let them find a new role model who will show them it’s cool to be smart!

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BLACK PANTHER is playing in theatres everywhere now!

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