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By Webb Wright, NY Reporter

March 8, 2022 | 3 min read

Women have long been underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). Today, Honda celebrates the role of women in these fields, while also giving ambitious young women interested in STEM a role model to look up to.

In observance of International Women’s Day, Honda has launched a new ad encouraging young women to pursue careers in STEAM – science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The ad, titled ‘Future women in STEAM,’ features Melanie Morimoto, a senior fabrication modeler technician at American Honda with over three decades of professional experience in the automotive field.

Filmed in her workspace, the video follows Morimoto as she crafts, like a sculptor working with raw clay, the interior of a car seat. All the while, we hear her voice as she reads and responds to a series of questions that have been submitted to her by young girls, all STEM students at the PAST Foundation – an education non-profit. Isabel, age 10, for example, asks: “What happens if you don’t have the answer?” To which Morimoto responds: “When I start a project, I commit to arriving at a solution. If I don’t have the answer, someone on my team does.” Perseverance and collaboration – two skills that can benefit us all.

Women have historically been underrepresented in the STEM (science, technologically, engineering and mathematics) fields. While some progress has been made, change has been slow: data from the United States Census Bureau, for example, shows that just 27% of all US STEM jobs were occupied by women in 2019 up from 8% in 1970 – a change of less than 20% over more than half a century.

One of the consequences of that underrepresentation, as Honda points out, is that young women who might be predisposed to a STEM career often struggle to find a female role model to look up to and emulate. This is one of the issues that the brand is hoping to rectify by putting Morimoto front-and-center in its new ad.

“Women have often been highlighted less than their male counterparts in the STEAM industry, and subsequently young girls don’t see enough female role models they can aspire to be,” Honda said in a statement. “Through the [new campaign], Honda wants to help empower these passionate young women to pursue their dreams of working and succeeding in STEAM-related fields.”

The new ad debuted today on Honda’s YouTube and LinkedIn pages. It will continue to be rolled out through the remainder of Women’s History Month on the company’s social media accounts.

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