#internationalwomensday and research (updated)
Image: https://www.facebook.com/51626468389/posts/1015G9173516363390/?substory_index=0
............or any other type of research!
Or any other type of discrimination🌈💜💚👍🏽👍🏿
This is even more apt given this week is British Science Week. This year it's about innovation but that's always the case because at the heart of science is innovation. As always there's a looking back at people in science who have been inspirational. And a looking forward to inspiring young people, especially women, into science. First, you need women teaching science in schools. I went to an open day at a top all girls secondary private school and the girl who led me around refused to set foot into the Science Department/labs. I asked: Why? Her response stunned me. She hated the subject/rooms because she disliked the male science teacher. She ended up with an aversion to science.
This is awful! How many girls are put off science by male teachers? 🤔 My male science tutors didn't put me off science, on the contrary. But, it clearly happens in schools. So, this is something that needs looking at more closely. How could such an aversion come about? 🤔 That's not to say that a male teacher will necessarily put girls off science e.g. Sarah Herbert's Physics teacher, John Moorcroft, inspired her to study/research materials science because he made science fun and practical down to learning how to change a plug which boys learn but girls don't. She gained her PhD in 1970 and had a career at the RAE (Royal Aircraft Establishment). You can listen to Sarah Herbert talking about this here:
She also received help and encouragement from her father. However, some girls receive even more direct help from their fathers who give them important contacts in the field. This happened in the art world and probably still does. Women artists succeeded if their father was also a well-known artist because it gave them an introduction to the world of artists which accepted them because a man was giving them a stamp of approval. But, no matter how good male teachers are, they are unable to act as role models because they cannot appreciate the gender problems ahead for women who enter science or any other male-dominated subject. Therefore, girls may simply see them as reinforcing gender stereotypes. That's before we begin with attitudes towards gay students in science, as we can see from the issues raised by Pride in STEM and Polar Pride! 🌈
I have a mother who likes science, apart from Physics! But, she doesn't have an aversion to it, liked her Physics teacher (a woman) and encouraged my interest in Physics. So, I didn't see it as science is for men. I generally didn't have this gendered notion of subjects. So, I was shocked by the lack of women studying philosophy in my year (2009-2013) and the general anti-women attitude that male philosophers display. Such gender stereotyping needs to end as does prejudice against LGBT+students in all subjects.
These are the urgent steps that need to be taken before we start talking about girls in science, research and other male-obsessed subjects such as philosophy.
Just because a few girls study science or philosophy it doesn't follow all is well. How many are held back through discrimination and don't go beyond the first degree despite being highly capable? 🤔 Its a small percentage that go on to do research and hold university positions. Those few who do are not standing up for women students and extending a helping hand. They are far too concerned about themselves. So, there's next to no encouragement or help to do so. We cannot keep holding these annual days/weeks aimed at encouraging girls/women/LGBT+ into Science and generally male-dominated subjects and see very little change as a result. It's time we started to see real progress. This may well not happen this year given the tremendous loss of school time over the past year. I'm very keen on the suggestion put forward that school days should be longer (schools used to teach until 4pm back in the day!) and holidays shorter but more frequent. As for universities, they need to be female-friendly and subject diverse, by which I mean, students should be given opportunities at university to not only study their chosen subject but also attend lectures on subjects that are unrelated to their degree. For instance, if they are an arts major then they can take science lectures in addition to their degree or vice versa. In this way, more women may go on to do a greater variety of degrees at post graduate level because one of the issues feminists are still very bothered about is the way girls are still shoe-horned into the arts/humanities.
The same is true of a lack of female representation when it comes to patented ideas, (in 2017, 12.7%) and not because they haven't thought up or invented any! When they do, men just appropriate it and earn millions out of it, as can be seen in this excellent article here:
And here's an article exploring the reasons why:
This is why Women's History is essential because, otherwise, we have a distorted view of women's abilities and achievements simply because they aren't patented or celebrated enough. This is highly relevant during March, which is Women's History Month.
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