So on Friday afternoon I went to a talk provided by the Psychology Department on females in science. The woman presenting (Dr. Bettina Casad) was interested in how threatening school environments related to women's underrepresentation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). This hour long presentation opened many students, and faculty eyes to how dreadful it is for some women entering a scientific field of study. Even though women make up 51% of the US population only 24% of women are in STEM fields, and only 8% of minorities are in STEM fields! I was interesting to discover that women and men in STEM jobs have almost equal pay, but many people believe that the underrepresentation of women makes pay-out increasingly equal. Of all the STEM jobs that have the most women majors it was Biology at 53%. This encompasses pure Biology, Pre-Med, Nursing, PT, OT, etc. The speaker explained that there is a high rate of women in this STEM field because a lot of the professors are also women. Female students entering into the Biology Fields of STEM will have strong female mentors, or role models to show the female students how to navigate through univeristy. The worst offender of STEM was Engineering with only 11% of majors being female.
Dr. Casad then began explaining why STEM is extremely imporatant for our economy right now. Many companies are going overseas of STEM majors because the US STEM field is not advancing. The vast majoring of majors in STEM are white, middle-class men who seem to have a lot of the same ideas. For instance, when airbags came out in cars many more women and children died in car crashes. This was not because of the car crashes but because the airbags were too strong sometimes. It was later discovered that the MEN who has designed the air bags had only tested the air bags on men! Well no shit women and children died. Another interesting one was the when SIRI was about to be launched it was discovered that she only responded to MEN. The apple Eingenners had not thought that women and children would need to use SIRI, and so SIRI was at first not programmed for women and children.
As the talk progressed Dr. Casad mentioned a lot of factors that effect the way women preform in STEM classes. One of the most interesting things about the whole talk was that Female Math and Science teachers have the most negative effect on female STEM majors. Many female STEM majors reported to Casad that the female math, and science professors made them feel inadequate and less than men! Most of the female STEM majors said that their awareness of stigma was heightened when female professors othered them. Casad called this the 'Queen Bee Syndrome,' and stated that many women in powerful STEM positions treat students negatively because they need to be perceived as less feminine in their fields. It was also found in Casad's study that students perceive male teachers as all knowing, while female professors have to prove that they are intelligent. If at anytime a female professor does not know the answer, or is harsh the female professor is discredited intellectually.
This is a light at the end of the tunnel though! Women will keep entering into more STEM fields if things are done to decrease their stigma. Casad's main point was that if female students are given: respect, less discrimination, less gender-stereotyping, a good campus climate, and a sense of belonging then the female will stay in STEM programs. It was found that if the female students felt that they belonged in STEM their GPA rose, and they entered into the more male dominated STEM fields. The main mediator though that keeps women, and minorities in STEM is that they have contact with female, and minority STEM professors. The more contact they have with these types of professors they longer they will stay in STEM.
How does everyone in the class feel about this? I know that when I started in a STEM major I left if because I felt inadiquate. Has anyone else had to deal with sexism, racism, or just plain ignorance in STEM classes?
YESSS! In my bio class there was a guy who questioned EVERY SINGLE THING I said. He automatically assumed that every thing I said was wrong. Because I had to work in a group with this guy I could not get away from it and it was the most frustrating thing ever.
ReplyDeleteI had a professor that when I went to his office hours, he treated me like a child. It made me angry that he needed to treat me as if I was so delicate. He would be an asshole to the men in the class but when it came to the females, he would be more gentle. It was super annoying.
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