Women
Scientists
The
Women’s Movement first began in America in the late eighteenth century, since
then women have constantly had to fight a battle for basic rights such as
voting, working, and even receiving an education. While women have overcome
numerous obstacles to obtain equal rights, are women truly equal? Although
women have come a long way since the eighteenth century, recent studies have shown
that women still face discrimination in the sciences. In particular, professors view women as
inferior to men in the sciences, women have greater difficulty gaining employment
in the sciences, and when hired are paid less than their male counterparts.
Growing
up I never felt that science was a male dominated field. However now looking
back I had more female teachers than male, but I never realized that all of my
science teachers had been male. Therefore it should not have surprised me on my
orientation day at Californian State University Northridge (CSUN) I had chosen
electrical engineering as a major after strong encouragement from my father, who
is an engineer himself. But, my father had forgotten to warn me that males
largely dominated the sciences, particularly engineering. When I walked into
orientation I immediately realized I was surrounded by men, there were only fabout
15 other females in the room. I was shocked. Interestingly, my friend who is
studying computer science at CSUN told me a similar story. When she walked into
her orientation she was overwhelmed by how many more males there were than
females.
After
doing research on the topic, I stumbled upon information about the graduating
Electrical Engineering majors at CSUN in 2009-2010. There were 101 graduating males
while there were only 17 females in the graduating class (Match College). Moreover,
in a recent study the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences conducted
both male and female professors were found to be biased against females
studying the sciences. The study surveyed 127 professors, asking them to rate
the students according to their capability on a scale out of 1 to 5, with 5
being the best. The male professors rated the male students with an average
rating of 4.01 and the female students with an average rating of 3.33. The
female professors then rated the male students with an average rating of 4.10
and the female students with an average rating of 3.32 (Jaschik). The most
surprising fact about this study was that the female professors were just as
biased as the male professors.
Even after graduating with an Engineering
degree, women still face discrimination when trying to find employment. Peter
Hicks, a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, states “in my
40 years of teaching electrical engineering at Manchester University women
never made up more than 5% of my classes.”
Furthermore, the number of female students enrolled in the sciences has
been steadily decreasing, five years ago, women made up 24% of computer science
classes, now they make up just 19% (Davis). These startling new studies prove
that this problem is only becoming worse. In my opinion this problem is
deep-rooted, starting from elementary school. There are very few teachers in
elementary school with a science related background (Hess). This needs to
change so children can grow up with a more of an extensive knowledge in the
sciences.
Besides
the fact that according to new studies that professors are biased against
female science students in universities, female scientists have continued to
battle sexism in their careers by earning significantly less than male
scientists. The same study that surveyed 127 professors asking about male and
female student capabilities also asked the professors how much they believed
the students should be paid after graduating. The male professors assumed the
male students would be paid $30,520, Whereas the females would be paid $27,111.
The female professors believed the male students would be paid $29,333 and the
females $25,000 (Jachik). These discriminating attitudes lead to unequal
opportunities amongst male and females, which may be offered from the
university (Jaschik). In fact, aside from professors speculating that women
scientist get paid less than their male counterparts, according to recent
studies conducted by The Glassdoor, a website that estimates the pay of various
careers, it is a fact. Female engineers earned 96.7% of their male counterparts
early in their careers, and as the experience increases so does the gap in
their salaries. Thus, four-six years of experience females earned 91.4%, in
seven-nine years females earned 92.7% of what men earned, and then after
ten-plus years, women earned 89.1% of what men earned (Besse). These biases
resulted with women being paid less than men even though they are equally
capable.
The
issue of stereotyping is extremely important to resolve because when females
look at these studies and realize they will be paid less than men, even though
they may be equally capable, it will make them reconsider their career and
steer more towards the careers viewed “traditionally” for women. To solve this
issue it is important to continue to urge women to study the sciences and even
out the ratio of men-to-women changing the attitudes of professors and employers
so that they realize that women are just as capable as men. In order to foster
more women more in the science fields Amanda Hess, author of the article
“How
to Fix the Bias against Women in Science? Think Big”, interviewed sixth grade
science teacher Janelle Wilson, who suggests encouraging “schools to engage
boys and girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM) subjects
early, before biases set in (Hess). Although this solution is helpful it will
not be able to solve the bigger problem. Author of “Numbers of
Women in Engineering, Physics and Computer Science are on the Decline” Emma
Knott, states that this problem is not so simple to solve. After observing
countries where there are a slightly higher percentage of female scientists,
researchers found that women have more political power in those countries
revealing that that the two issues are intertwined. Furthermore, the countries
where there are more women scientists have “government policies that support
childcare, equal pay, and gender mainstreaming” (Knott). After seeing these
studies, it is evident that the solution to this problem is targeting
government policies and having the government directly encourage females to
pursue a science degree.
Even
though women have indeed come a long way since the eighteenth century, it is
important to realize women are still not treated equally to men. There are
still stereotypes that women cannot prosper in the harder subjects, such as,
mathematics and sciences. When attempting to master the sciences women are
faced with extreme challenges along the way causing them to avoid these subjects
for their own good. But when looking for a solution to this issue it is
important realize it is a lot broader than it seems. Having more women
scientists directly ties in with governmental policies, the more equality
government policies push, the more powerful women there will be.
By Heba
Work Cited
Besse, Tim. "Engineering Pay Gap? Glassdoor Reveals Many
Women Engineers Earn Less than Men." Glassdoor.
N.p., 10 Mar. 2009. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/engineering-pay-gap-glassdoor-reveals-many-women-engineers-earn-less-than-men/>.
Jaschik, Scott. "Study Offers New Evidence That
Scientists Are Biased against Women | Inside Higher Ed." Study Offers New Evidence That
Scientists Are Biased against Women | Inside Higher Ed. Inside High Ed, 21
Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/21/study-offers-new-evidence-scientists-are-biased-against-women>.
Knott, Emma. "New Gender Benchmarking Study Finds
Numbers of Women in Science and Technology Fields Alarmingly Low." New Gender Benchmarking Study Finds
Numbers of Women in Science and Technology Fields Alarmingly Low. N.p., 3
Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/e-ngb100312.php>.
Hass, Amanda. "How to Fix the Bias Against Women in
Science? Think Big." The
XX Factor. Slate, 4 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/10/04/women_in_science_fixing_the_bias_requires_broad_social_change_.html>.
