Women in Science
In class this week, the reading that had my attention the most was “The egg and the Sperm…” by Emily Martin. Martin realized biology relies on stereotypes from cultural definitions of male and female and we saw in her paper how science compared the sperm and the egg’s characteristics. The sperm was viewed in a very traditionally masculine way, heroic, highly active, strong, and efficient. The egg was viewed as wasteful passive, weak, and over all less-than. It is very clear to see the bias involved in traditional science against women. Even in today’s world, women in science is still something that has to be fought for. previously, women were viewed as incompetent in sciences and were often suggested/advised to look for work involving interaction with people, “soft sciences,” and receptionist jobs; this is when women attempted to get into “hard” science fields.
With the amount of diversity programs for different sciences making appearances, science fields are becoming an option for women because they are learning more about it. This is giving them the opportunity to truly have all doors open to them so they have a chance to say yes or no to these fields rather than the option not even being presented to them. Even though we have made progress, women who make it to varying science departments still face sexism. The fight for equality is not won by simply getting into a science field, it is the continuous battle of staying in the field regardless of the treatment.
Reading about feminism in this class has not only uncovered sexism, but has also suggested ways to become better as a science community. Science is an amazing thing, but we would not be doing it justice if we continue to exclude “ certain kinds of people” for unscientific reasons.
