The Quest To Highlight Women And Girls In Science
Sometimes you have to analyze mistakes made in the past in order to create a better future. A more concentrated effort to include women and girls in science is an important part of this effort to build a more equal future. Until very recently, science has been very male-dominated. Now, however, we are slowly moving towards a more genuine gender equality.
If you ask a girl or a boy to draw a scientific scientist, he or she will probably draw the same thing : an old man in a white coat. In the style of “Doc” in Back to the Future. And if you ask people along the same lines if they can name a woman who has devoted her life to science, most people would have a hard time coming up with anyone other than Marie Curie, who was the first female Nobel laureate.
Rita Levi-Montalcini, Lise Meitner, Sophie Germain and Marie Anne Pierrette-Paulze are not celebrities. Maybe this is because in the scientific world they have been completely overshadowed by men like Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Nicola Tesla and Louis Pasteur. Men have always had more opportunities, better positions and more prestige.
Does this mean that very few women have devoted their lives to science in the course of human history? Not at all. The problem is that most are overshadowed by men. An excellent example is Mileva Marić-Einstein, Albert Einstein’s first wife. According to her biographer, she played a central role in Einstein’s theory of relativity, for which he won the Nobel Prize.
Women and girls in science
February 11 is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The UN has set specific goals for progress over the next fifteen years and one of these is to put an end to inequality.
Science, technology, engineering, mathematics… The proportion of women in these fields is on the rise and it is fantastic. However, there are various factors that will be important for the future of gender equality. Let’s take a closer look at these aspects.
The effects of gender discrimination
According to UNESCO reports, less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women. Similarly, only 3% of female students at universities and colleges choose to study information and communication technology (ICT). In fact, women make up only 8% of those employed in areas such as science, statistics, mathematics and engineering.
Is it the case that women simply lack the skills required to be able to work in these areas? Of course, that is not the case. But there is a problem that remains. In order for a real integration of women and girls in science to take place, gender discrimination must end. Nowadays, many children already at the age of 7-8 internalize ideas about what is “for boys” and what is “for girls”.
Young children usually imagine male engineers, researchers and university professors. We must correct this kind of prejudice in early childhood if we want to promote gender equality. By encouraging girls to pursue science and arouse their scientific curiosity, we could certainly make important changes.
Why are there no more women who have significant scientific work?
However, there is a reality that cannot be escaped. The higher up you climb the career ladder, the fewer women you will find. There are more men than women in leading and decision-making positions. Why? Most often, the problem is that political strategies to promote gender equality have failed. Society still sees male researchers as more competent.
In addition, the biggest challenge for their female colleagues is usually the difficulty of reconciling motherhood with professional life. Women are often unable to take on responsibilities with greater responsibility on the grounds that there are no mechanisms in place to support working mothers.
Furthermore, there is another important factor to consider. It is the well-known “Matilda effect”, which is a term coined by the historian Margaret W. Rossiter in 1993. According to Rossiter, people tend to value the work men do higher than what women do.
Scientific advances and discoveries attributed to women often go unnoticed. And in the worst case, a man can get the credit for the work that a woman has done. The result is that female researchers are excluded and lack the opportunities to receive funding for their work, to have their research published and to be promoted.
Women and girls in science: hope for the future
In conclusion, we should teach girls that they can become whatever they want. Let us open their eyes to the vast world of the cosmos, the microscopic universe of genetics, and the vast scope of engineering. In order to integrate women and girls in science, we must invest in education and career opportunities.
All boys and girls, regardless of the environment in which they live and the country from which they come, should have the opportunity to study what they are interested in. After all, it is passion that lies behind scientific and technological progress. Attracting the kind of people to this field who are genuinely interested in their work is what leads to human success. If we raise our children in an equal way and give them the opportunity to develop professionally without prejudice and barriers, it is something we all gain.
