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Gender Bias in Stem Careers
“Sexist discrimination in STEM is such incredibly old news that it is a serious wonder we have not discovered the words “Women cannot be trusted to add” in cave paintings.”(JR Thorpe) In “Proof” David Auburn tells the story of a young woman growing up in a mathematically gifted family. Catherine’s father Robert, was a world renowned mathematician who made major contributions to three fields: game theory, algebraic geometry, and nonlinear operator theory. When Robert reached his mid twenty’s his health began to decline, leaving Catharine the burden of taking care of him during his time of illness. Catharine, unlike other kids her age she had to look after a graphomaniac and become the head of her household. Catharine
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In a randomized double- blind study, science faculty from a research- intensive university rated the application materials of a student who was randomly assigned either a male or female name – for a laboratory manager position. Faculty participants rated the male applicant as significantly more competent and hirable than the identical female applicant. Meditation analysis indicated that the female student was less likely to be hired because she was viewed as less competent. Studies like this directly proves that gender bias lives in STEM societies. It is quite disturbing that the Stem society would stop low and practice in gender discrimination. For instance, DR. Vera Rubin was a pioneering astronomer who found the first empirical proof of “Dark Matter”. But before that she was rejected by Princeton for a graduate degree because their astronomy program did not accept women, this incident was in 1948 the policy was upheld until 1975. To think that it has only been forty one years that Princeton has been accepting women is amazing. How does a prestigious university degrade and discriminate against women? Princeton turning away Dr. Vera Rubin a perfect example of how turning women away can substantially limit the discovery of the unknown. Another example is Emmy Noether, Emmy Noether is regarded as one of the most influential figures in mathematical history. Even albert Einstein thought she …show more content…
Imagine life in a woman’s shoes perusing a career in the STEM field where there is no respect and acknowledgements for your discoveries that would discourage and scare of maybe some of the most brilliant minds the world has yet to encounter. Proof excellently executed the illustration of women’s struggles and hardships they encounter not only in day to day life but in the field they have a passion for. The Many accounts mentioned illustrates the brave and noble women who have made very important contributions to research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. But many women don’t publish because they are discouraged, just think in the period Princeton turned away women they might have turned away the cure for
Many women scientist upheld and defended their positions as learned, scientific individuals. Marie Meurdrac, a French scientist, in a foreword to a publication stated clearly that women’s and men’s minds, if thought in the same manner would hold no difference.(Doc 2) Similarly, Dorothea Erxleben understood and explained why men and women alike look down on her for studying science because they feel that it is an insult.(Doc 9) Her experiences as a female scientist led her to truly grasp why her persecutors acted as they did towards her although this document shows no signs that she thinks the same. Maria Sibylla Merian, a German entomologist, discussed some of her scientific practices that encompass her dedication and fascination with science.(Doc 5) Another example of this whole-hearted dedication comes from Marquis...
Keller, Evelyn Fox. Reflections on Gender and Science: 10th Anniversary Edition. New Haven and London: Yale University, 1995.
...roblems of integration. If the science world takes advantage of undiscovered female talent, science as a whole will benefit greatly. For example, the original group of ENIAC programmers consisted of 6 women. In 1946, these women helped to develop the first operating stored-program computer.6 If female talent such as this goes to waste because of social neglect, the science world will never know what possible discoveries that could have been made with the help of women. If Dr. Djerassi is accurate with his examples of discrimination, the science world should take note of these problems and attempt to solve them.
In an excerpt titled "The Feminist Face of Antitechnology" from his 1981 book Blaming Technology, Samuel C. Florman explains why he thinks so few educated women in modern society are engineers. The excerpt was written shortly after he had visited an all-female liberal arts school, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, to convince a few young women to become engineers. His mission failed and his essay makes clear why he had such trouble.
If women lack intelligence and cannot be a scientist, then what should they be? If they can’t act intelligent, then how should they act? Woman should stick to their society roles and stay away from thinking the way a male is expected to think. A woman thinking scientifically is considered to be thinking like a man (Keller 77). Keller’s statement explains that science is considered to be a male subject. It is not appropriate for females to think scientifically. Women then begin to get treated differently because they are not meeting society’s
How else can we explain that in 2014 only 46.8% women were part of the work force compared to 53.2% men; or that women earned 81.1% of men’s salaries in 2015; or that African Americans constitute almost 45% of the prison population, which translates to six times that of whites. These are very serious social issues that need to be understood and addressed. There is no doubt that women have made it to the top in art and many other fields, but, it is nowhere close to the achievements of men. If we consider the Nobel Prize winners, there have been 47 females compared to 825 males, since 1901. Even though, more females are winning the awards lately, there is a substantive gender gap.
When most people think of the Scientific Revolution, they think of scientists such as Galileo, Newton, Brahe, and Boyle. However, many people do not even know about the many women who played a vital role in the scientific advancements of this period. Even when these women were alive, most of society either ignored them or publicly disapproved their unladylike behavior. Because of this, these women were often forgotten from history, and very little is known about the majority of them. Although their names rarely appear in history books, the female scientists of the Scientific Revolution still impacted the world of science in several ways. In fact, all of the scientists listed above had a woman playing an influential role assisting them in their research. However, assisting men in their studies was not the only role open to women; several women performed experimentation and research on their own, or advancing science in some other way, even though the society of the time looked down upon and even resisted their studies.
“Scientists Not Immune from Gender Bias, Yale Study Shows.” Yale News. Yale University, 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
In conclusion, I believe Godfrey-Smith needs to clearly state his opinion and give more information on the topic overall. I believe he overlooks this topic because of his beliefs that it holds no importance to scientific results and data. I think both women and science would be better served by having a greater amount of women in science.
Rosser, S. V. (1998). Applying feminist theories to women in science programs. Signs, 24, 71-200.
STEM is best known as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM for many years has been primarily seen as and stereotyped into a masculine work field. But as of recent years, while it expands, more and more women have been rising in these fields. However, there is still a tremendous gender gap between men and women in these fields and areas of work. The gender gap between men and women in STEM is alive and well. There is no denying that the gender gap between men and women in STEM is immense. But there instead are many sufficient reasons as to why there is such a huge gap between men and women within in fields. Some probable causes for the lack of women seen in these areas are biased towards women, unconscious bias girls receive
Carol B. Muller, “The Underrepresentation of Women in Engineering and Related Sciences: Pursuing Two Complementary Paths to Parity.” National Academies Press (US); Web. 2003.
Girls are seen as caring, nurturing, quiet, and helpful. They place other’s needs above their own. Girls get ahead by hard work, not by being naturally gifted. Boys are seen as lazy, but girls are seen as not capable. In class, teacher will call on boys more than they call on girls. Boys are seen as better at math and science; while girls are better at reading and art. This bias is still at work even out of the classroom. There are more males employed at computer firms than women. The ratio of male to female workers in STEM fields is 3-1. In college, more women major in the humanities than in the sciences. In education, women are often seen as lesser than; even though 65% of all college degrees are earned by women. Women are still often seen as needing to be more decorative than intellectual, as represented by the Barbie who included the phrase, “Math is hard!” and the shirt that JC Penneys sold that said, “I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.” While there was a backlash on both items, it points out that there is a great deal of work to do on the educational gender bias to be
Gender bias has a long history and continues to occur in the workplace today. Research indicates that women remain significantly disadvantaged and mistreated compared to men in the workforce. How do the disparities of hiring, promotion, and salaries affect women in the workplace?
[4] Nolan, Deborah. Women in Mathematics: Scaling the Heights. The Mathematical Association of America, 1997