As a female student currently pursuing a degree in mechanical
engineering, it is impossible to ignore the lack of representation of my gender
in my future career path. A whopping 24% of women make up the fields of
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and even less, 12% in
engineering (Segura, 2016). While this gender difference has yet to make a huge
difference in my life, as I move further up the ladder of my STEM career, I am
opposed by more and more barriers due to my biological sex.
 |
| Statistics of Women in STEM Workplaces (Segura, 2016). |
This phenomenon is commonly explained by “the leaky pipeline” which is a
concept that helps explain why women who do begin pursuing male-dominated
careers face many barriers and road blocks that cause them to fall off their
original career path, which is why there are less women in higher up positions.
This is easily applicable to women in STEM fields, while many women begin pursuing
engineering or science in college, many are influenced to switch out and while
many women start working as a physician or computer scientist, due to unequal
gender roles like motherly expectations, many women fall off the STEM career
path.
Social Psychologists explain this lack of representation of women in
male-dominated fields with the Social Role Theory. This theory provides 3 basic
reasons for the magnification of sex differences by unequal societal roles:
labor differences, behavioral differences, and the continuation of
stereotypical perceptions of men and women as dominant and domestic. Meaning
there are more men in STEM fields because it is perceived as a more masculine,
physically demanding, critical thinking job. Society also stereotypes that men’s
brains are better-made for understanding mathematics and researching in science.
STEM fields also tend to be higher-paying paired with societies expectations for
men to be more dominant and the "breadwinner" of the household, women are less
likely to find their place in a STEM career.
As exemplified from this image from a popular social media outlet,
Reddit, women are joked to not belong in STEM careers due to their biological tendencies
to be more domestic, focused on image, or attempting to defy social norms by
challenging men.
 |
| Reddit post on Differences between men and women in STEM (MGTOW, 2017). |
This photo also illustrates popular negative social views of modern feminists
or women attempting to succeed in STEM fields. While, the core of feminism is aimed
at equality of men and women, it is often perceived as made up of extremist, nipple-freeing
men haters. Social Psychologists define this as ambivalent, hostile sexism.
This aligns with negative, resentful feelings about women’s ability to
challenge male power. Men tend to take offense when their dominance is
threatened by a powerful woman and tend to treat them differently than their
male counterparts.
With this kind of sexism and threats to my career awaiting my future, I
can’t help but commit to put an end to the continuation and perpetuation of
these stereotypes. I am a woman in engineering and I wish to advance in my
career just as any man would without coming off as threatening or being accused
defying my biological calling to be domestic. So, I’m asking you 3 major things
to help me in my fight for equal gender representation in STEM fields: dispel
negative gender stereotypes, don’t fall into gendered career or household roles
simply because of societies expectations, and encourage woman to get in and
stay in male dominated fields. Next time think twice before you tell that
sexist joke or hate on a woman in engineering, because our path is hard and unpaved,
and we need your support.
References
M. (2018, February 12). The
Leaky Pipeline. Retrieved February 12, 2018, from vimeo.com/230989490
“Men and Women Choose
Careers Differently.” The American Interest, 7 Aug. 2017, the-american-interest.com/2016/05/09/men-and-women-choose-careers-differently/.
MGTOW “Women’s STEM.” Reddit, April 23, 2017. Retrieved February
12, 2018 from i.redd.it/8q9u2zhxscty.jpg
Segura, Nicholas. “These
STEM initiatives are inspiring women and girls around the globe.” (2016,
February 15). Retrieved February 12, 2018, from lastema.org/these-stem-initiatives-are-inspiring-women-and-girls-around-the-globe/
Smaglik, Paul, “Patching
a Leaky Pipeline”, Nature, Nature Publishing Group, 02/12/2004. dx.doi.org/10.1038/nj6975-657a10.1038/nj6975-657a
Nice job transitioning from women in STEM to different expectations of women. I think a large part is going to be working together men and women to keep everyone interested in STEM fields in them! For example, more universities are instituting paternity leave policies! I think this will help keep women in STEM but also help the development of children into confident individuals.
ReplyDeleteI do see problems with women being hypocritical or crying out because they are women in a STEM, this isn't you or many women. However, the few can drastically alter people and companies images of women trying to work in STEM. An awesome thing you didn't note is that women in post bachelors degrees are nearly equal in stem fields, therefore your note on a glass ceiling needs to be taken with a grain of salt and direction of where the person wants to go in their career.
Do you have a source for "women in post bachelors degrees are nearly equal in stem fields?" At Michigan Tech, this isn't true: http://www.mtu.edu/equity/diversity/facts/enrollment/ At the MS level, the numbers look very similar to the undergrad programs. We do see a closing of the gap the PhD level (M60/F40; although the labels are incorrect on the website). It is true that in some STEM fields (psychology is a good example), women out number men. But, I believe this is the exception rather than the rule. NSF does a really good job of tracking data on women and minorities in STEM. If anyone is interested in digging in, here is their report. You can also access the raw data to do your own assessment: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/digest/about-this-report/
DeleteWOW!!! That was well written. I agree with the fact that even in today's world that there are men who are threatened by powerful women. I think they are honestly just intimidated because some women can be better than men at their jobs.
ReplyDeleteI think that the movie "Hidden Figures" goes hand in hand with what you said. If you have not watched it, you should. While the movie does cover racism, there is a lot of negativity towards women in STEM!
Yes! I love that movie and it is a great example of negative or resentful feelings towards women and minorities in STEM. In my own opinion, the biggest problem with leveling the playing field for all genders and races in the STEM fields is that in order for minorities to gain power and influences, the dominating power must give up some of theirs. At this point in time I don't think most powerful white men are willing to accept that.
DeleteI would agree. I feel that they are stuck in the mindset of it is "The Good Ol' Boys Club"!
DeleteI found this blog very interesting! I think one of the ways we can help encourage women to pursue careers in STEM is starting early on in elementary school/middle school. I remember taking an Intro to Engineering class in middle school and I was the only girl in the class. It makes you feel out of place, and extremely uncomfortable. If girls develop interests in STEM at a young age, I believe they will be more likely to pursue and achieve their goals in STEM, especially if they are doing it with other women alongside them. I do think that we have done a great job with this in the past. I believe a lot of women in school now are planning on pursuing careers in STEM, and although it is not to the same extent as men, we are making great strides to closing the gap.
ReplyDeleteI recently attended parent's night at Houghton High School and they are making an attempt to make shop and other traditionally male-only classes more appealing to female students. For example, in addition to offering the traditional wood shop classes, they are offering "Up-cycling." It covers the use of the exact same tools and requires similar projects, but is just marketed in a different way. What do you think of an approach like this?
DeleteVery interesting post! I really liked your call to action at the end.
ReplyDeleteYou explain the leaky pipeline and how it explains why women face challenges in male-dominated careers. Are there any ways in which we can reverse this? You discuss not conforming to expectations but are there any ways in which we can eliminate gender stereotyping on a large scale? There are certain options being pursued already such as attempting to eliminate the teaching of gender roles to children. I think that the best way to progress is to encourage younger generations to pursue STEM and working towards preventing discouragement because you may be in the minority. I also think that creating opportunities for women in STEM to band together could be helpful. For example, there is the society of women in engineering here on our campus that works to connect women in the field. I think this kind of positive support can go a long way in making women feel confident and understood.
In regard to your comment about encouraging young women to pursue STEM, I completely agree. When I was younger and even in high school, I was always interested in and extremely good at math and science and never thought or was told about engineering possibilities. It wasn't until my junior year of high school when I learned we had a robotics team and I joined and loved it. If I hadn't found that team, that taste of engineering I may have had a completely different future, not in engineering , not in STEM.
DeleteI found all of your information to be very interesting and applicable as I am also a woman pursuing a degree in engineering.
ReplyDeleteWhat I felt really spoke to me was the image you chose. I have never seen this particular image and I was a bit shocked at how negatively it portrayed women. It would be one thing to replace the letters with more "feminine" job areas but that the replacements for the letters were so superficial. Especially M being Man-Hating. I feel as though men feel like we are personally attacking them and trying to put ourselves higher than them when we really just want equality. I really like your call to arms, call to action, and I will stand with you on this important matter.
Thank you Abby! I agree the image from Reddit was very disturbing to me, but not very surprising. While I have never met a woman in STEM that hates men and is inherently out to get them, I have heard negative thoughts on feminists from the likes of fearful men. Like you said, men feel like we're personally attacking them when we're simply trying to get what we deserve, equal treatment.
DeleteReally interesting post! Although I'm not in the STEM field, I do recognize this issue and I think there are things that can be done to shift the view of women in STEM and get rid of the "domestic" stereotype/social role. Starting young, building confidence in children and offering equal learning opportunities across all subjects could help level the playing field.
ReplyDeleteThis post was a really informative read. I am a psychology major and sometimes I forget how hard it can be for women in STEM fields. Most of my psychology classes are pretty evenly split between men and women, with some even having more women than men. I’ve been lucky in that regard here at Tech, but I have had classes that were so disproportionate it was almost scary. One SS class I took my sophomore year was a big lecture class with about 100 people. Out of those 100 people, just 6 of us were women. It was one of the first times I felt really outnumbered and it was daunting. I can’t imagine feeling that way all the time. I really like your call to action at the end of your post. The three things you mentioned to combat sexism in STEM are all very feasible and I will work to help change things for the better.
ReplyDeleteThank you Greta! I have had some daunting experiences in the classroom here at Tech, too. As a second year Mechanical Engineer most of my classes at around 100 people usually have about 10 women, and in my Mechanical Engineering Lab, I am the only woman.
DeleteThis was a very well written post, and I thought the personal ties made it much more relatable to myself (being a woman in Computer Science) and having been faced with some of these negative stereotypes in some of my major specific classes.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever get the chance, we have a class here at Tech called Science Tech and Society and one big portion of the class is being informed of how there is a lack of Women in STEM and how it can be fixed. If you ever get the chance I recommend the class. For my final I was able to write a paper on Gendered Science, which is not only looking at the lack of women in science but WHY there is that gap.
Another thing i had found while writing that final was that there were events called Gender Summits.
http://gender-summit.com/
They happen on a yearly basis at different locations around the world and they work towards "creating communities committed to enhancing scientific excellence by: removing gender bias from science knowledge making; advancing gender equality in science structures and practices; and applying understanding of gender issues to advance more sustainable and effective research and innovation" (Heisook 2015).
Heisook, Lee(2015) https://www.elsevier.com/connect/why-science-is-gender-biased-and-what-we-can-do-about-it
As the others have said, this was a well written post. I agree that one of the issues with this problem is Social Role Theory. It is almost like a Self fulfilling prophecy on a large scale. The dropout of women from stem areas in high school is just as apparent. I went to an advanced STEM school while in high school, and the distribution of men to women was fairly even. When we all went to college though, many of the women diverged off this path. I wonder why this was, since we all went through the same classes.
ReplyDelete