Persisting Bias Towards Women in Science and Technology
This Wednesday, we spent a great amount of time discussing obstacles and bias within social norms towards women who are willing to enter the science and tech industry or currently working in these fields.
The discussion reminded me of my mother insisting for me to become a doctor instead of a nurse. She once told me that at the time when she was about to decide which college she would apply for, her parents and teachers were all discouraging her from applying for a med-school and becoming a surgeon. Most of their arguments were associated with the image the society posed that surgeons were positions for men while women were supposed to become a nurse to assist the doctors. Furthermore, to become a surgeon was said to require you to be tough, smart, and diligent which were so related to masculinity at that time that the public did’t even believe women were capable of finishing college not to say conduct a successful operation. In the other hand, as nurses are always depicted as assisting doctors and taking care of the patient as careful and warm-hearted as possible. The image of nurse as “angels in white” also stratifies the nurse as a more feminine job.
Decades later, though we have seen growing advocations for women to pursue a career in science and technology and various diversity programs have been launched in every college and top-tier research institution, we can still say that the obstacles for a woman to enter the science and technology field are still existing.
In this article, the editor clearly lists several biased aspect of the science society towards a female trying to build a science career. American science society has been avoiding to talking about these problems for a long time and it’s time for us to face these inequalities.
In addition to inequalities in chances in science and technology society, excellent women have always been discouraged from pursuing a career in this society because of recurring sexual harassment news.
Since these problems have been identified by social scientists, the next step should be to break down these barriers to allow females and underrepresented minorities to pursue their dream career more freely.
