In her op-ed, “To Remake the World, Give Girls All the (Power) Tools,” Emily Pilloton writes about how to equip girls in order to build power and voice and to change the authorship of our physical world. The article—published by Fast Company on June 2, 2020—begins with a description of Emily’s personal path to building, before expanding to the state of trades, construction, and STEM, and onto a case for how learning to build can fundamentally alter our lives forever. She connects the dots between power tools and power itself, asking:

What might our world look like if every girl in America, or the world, stormed the aisles of Home Depot and went forth to build the world she wanted to see? How might our conversations in boardrooms, labs, and state buildings go if every woman had experienced her own power through the spark of a welding torch or the buzz of a chainsaw? How might 18-year-old girls cast their first votes if they were certain of their own ability to edit, shape, and improve the world?

Bolstered by accounts from teen participants in Girls Garage programs, a carpenter/educator, and an architecture and design writer, Emily shows how to give girls the literal, mental, and spiritual tools they need to build a better world.