Women In Stem
‘Biology, wow what a difficult major.’ My default response has always been ‘Yeah, I know.’ This interaction has always occurred whenever asked about my major. While I know that it is difficult, I have never doubted myself. People will treat me as if I did not know what I was getting into, as if I had gone self-destructive, and crazy for choosing such a difficult and time-consuming major. It has always angered me that people doubt me instead of uplifting me, this is not just my experience, this is a common experience for women who work and study in the field of science. It was not until the late 18 and early 19 centuries that women started entering college, and fighting for equal rights. It wasn’t until recent decades that women started to become acknowledged for their work in the fields of STEM, like for example Marie Curie who studied radioactivity, and did extensive research. She had to fight for her work to be credited to her, and she was the first woman to win a Nobel prize, furthermore she won two (Nelson, Paragraph 2). Women in the science community are discriminated against. They are unrepresented and considered minorities. They are treated differently than their male peers and often ignored.
Erasure
Women in the science community are unrepresented and considered minorities. Even though society likes to believe that everyone is equal, and legally, yes most laws are equal for men and women, there is still this implicit bias. Implicit bias means that even though we may think one way our mind and subconscious has a different feeling than what one may express. While not necessarily a bad thing, implicit biases negatively affect women in the stem fields. This implicit bias starts at a young age. According to Ducharme, many children when asked to describe a scientist, they often imagine a middle aged white man, in a lab coat. Now why does this stereotype occur at such a young age, it is because not a lot of women are not represented having this job. Typically women are portrayed as being nurses or teachers (Ducharme, Paragraph 3). While there is a high enrollment of women in higher institutions, there is still a high gap between men and women in stem majors. The enrollment of girls in higher education increased to 39% to 46% from 2007 to 2014, and about 12 million women are enrolled in undergraduate courses, and fewer are enrolled in diploma courses, and about 40% of Phd programs are women (Shukla et al, Paragraph 10). While there is an evident increase in women in higher education in more recent years, their is still an inequality of women enrolled in Phd programs and master programs, specifically when it comes to stem careers, this can be due to a multiple reasons, and this shows how societal standards cause an imbalance of women participating in education. Only about 28% of researchers employed in research and development are women. (Women in Science, Paragraph 3) while women are becoming as educated as men, women find a harder time gaining employment compared to their males counterparts, and may find employment in jobs in which they are too competent for, simply because of the bias that women are do not work as hard as men, are not as smart as men, and are not qualified as men for the same job. There is a lack of women in stem fields, and it all starts at a young age, many schools have implemented STEM programs for children, and ensure there is gender equality between men and women.
Mistreatment
Many women are mistreated and treated differently than their males peers, women’s work is often judged based on their gender. While yes, there is a difference between the work ethic between men and women, this does not mean that their work is any less good or as much. Many women’s work is omitted or their work is judged harsher compared to their male colleagues, and must strive for perfectionism in order to be considered competent. “ Despite the legal prohibitions, 72.8 percent of the women interviewees reported that they had experienced discrimination. Among the men, 12.9 percent said they had been subject to reverse discrimination.” (Warrent et al, 2) This shows women are discriminated because of their sex, this can be because of a multitude of reasons, this negatively affects a women’s work, because it causes women self-confidence and esteemed to be broken. For Example Colwell talks about one time she faced discrimination during her career, alot of them even shocking to an extent. “When I applied for a graduate fellowship to study bacteriology, a professor told me the department didn’t waste such positions on women ”(Colwell, 4). This shows how women face discrimination when trying to reach better positions and try to advance their education. Women are often doubted, and many men believe that they will not be able to perform the same as them. Serio tells the account she faced while building her career. Tricia Serio is a professor and head of molecular and cellular biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She is a distinguished professor and at the top of her career. Tricia faced multiple microaggressions while first building her career. ” Of all the questions I have been asked in my scientific career, perhaps the most troubling came from a former department head when I told him I was expecting my second child. “Was it planned?” he asked. I had not yet secured tenure and took his remark to suggest that I was not committed to my career.”(Serio 1) Comments like this are common to women trying to progress their career, their commitment to the profession is often questioned, and because of gender-stereotypes are believed to be not as hard-working as men. Many women can be credited to have done countless research, and because of discrimination, their work has been credited to male colleagues. For example Francis Crick and James Watson, did not originally find the double-strand DNA, it was a woman, Rosalind Franklin, her work was used to support Crick and Watson work.
Opportunities
Women in stem careers do not receive the same opportunities as men. While this is true in most careers. It can be specifically said for women in stem careers. The patriarchal system engrained has left it hard for women to advance, especially since women are not seen as breadwinners, they are seen as the housewife, and they must be kept at home with the children and chores, it’s not until recently that women have tried to combat this stereotype. “Women in Europe are still significantly under-represented on the boards of research institution, funding organizations, scientific councils, and are rarely found among the heads of higher education institutions in the majority of European countries” (Mulenbruch, and Maren Page 1) This shows how the proportion of men and women is not as disproportionate, but it becomes greater when those same men and women try to compete for the same leadership positions, even though they may have the same qualifications. For example Warren states that during interviews that effect of sexism leads to women self-confidence being diminished when being interviewed by male employers and their accolades and awards being judged harsher than those of their male peers, these women must often change their behavior and be the single most perfect candidate, in order to be considered for jobs. (Warren et al, Page 2) The effects of sexism leads to women receiving less opportunities than men. “Women are only 11% of the doctor of science degrees in physics and only 3% of the tenured professorship in physic departments at universities (Dresselhous et al, Paragraph 1) The lack of women in leadership positions shows how women have limited opportunities, and do not hold higher positions the same as men. While Jobs may preach about equal application, the inequality of jobs is a systemic problem, and the whole system must be changed, in order to see a more equal balance of power between men and women.
Conclusion
Women working in the science community suffer gender inequality, and suffer hardships in many ways, and are questioned for trying to advance their careers. Women are discriminated against, therefore receiving less opportunities, than their males colleagues. The patriarchy is so deeply put in the system, and the only way to change it is through education. Many education centers and institutions have to be made more aware of the disproportion, and need to educate future generations on this gap between men and women.
Works Cited
Colwell, Rita. “Women Scientists Have Evidence about Sexism.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 30 Aug. 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/women-scientists-have-evidence-about-sexism-science/615823/.
Dresselhaus, Mildred S., et al. “Interventions to Increase the Participation of Women in Physics.” Science, vol. 263, no. 5152, 11 Mar. 1994, p. 1392. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A14938300/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=10de0e64. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022.
Ducharme, Jamie. “Kids’ Gender Stereotypes Are Slowly Changing, Study Says.” Time, Time, 20 Mar. 2018, https://time.com/5201175/draw-a-scientist-studies/.
Muhlenbruch, Brigitte, and Maren A. Jochimsen. “Only Wholesale Reform Will Bring Equality: Providing Equal Opportunities for Women in Science Requires Change at Every Level.” Nature, vol. 495, no. 7439, 7 Mar. 2013, p. 40. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A321682875/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=bb08d1cd. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022.
Nelson, Cameron R. “The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science (2010).” Journal of Research Administration, vol. 42, no. 2, 2011, p. 111. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A276807851/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=f5600469. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022.
Serio, Tricia. “Speak up about Subtle Sexism in Science: Female Scientists Face Everyday, Often-Unintentional Microaggression in the Workplace, and It Won’t Stop Unless We Talk about It.” Nature, vol. 532, no. 7600, 28 Apr. 2016, p. 415. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A451000266/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=93451f3c. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022.
Shukla, Tanu, et al. “The Persistence of Gender-Blind Phenomena in Indian Science Academia.” Journal of International Women’s Studies, vol. 24, no. 1, July 2022, p. 1AE. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A712572284/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=c868611e. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022.
Warren, Christopher R., et al. “Helping or Hurting? Effects of Sexism and Likeability on Third Party Perceptions of Women.” Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, vol. 48, no. 10, Oct. 2020, p. 1l. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A639544181/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=b14e0d25. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022.
“Women in Science.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, https://tdr.who.int/home/our-work/strengthening-research-capacity/women-in-science.
