Close your eyes and imagine an engineer talking to a nurse. Clearly picture the yellow safety hat of the engineer and the pure white uniform of the nurse. Now open your eyes… did you imagine the engineer as a man and the nurse as a woman? If you did, then you are guilty of stereotyping. A stereotype refers to an oversimplified and over generalised idea about people or things, e.g. all scientists wear glasses. One such stereotype is that girls aren’t good at Science and it is precisely this idea that the International Day of Women and Girls in Science aims to overthrow.
In December 2015, the United Nations adopted a resolution to celebrate February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This year is the first time it was celebrated. The idea behind this day is to ensure equal participation and involvement of women and girls in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Deterring factors
Do you think that such a day is necessary?
Well, here are some facts for you. Let’s assume that roughly half the population of India is female. Now take a look at these findings. According to a survey carried out by National Task Force for Women in Science, in 2008, Indian women held only 37 per cent of PhDs, less than 15 per cent of faculty positions and less than four per cent of awards and fellowships at various science academies. Globally, the situation is not very different.
So, what holds girls back from joining these fields of study? Is it that they are simply not capable of learning science? Or, that the brains of women are less capable of comprehension?
A study published by The New York Times , a newspaper in the U.S., analyses the results of a science test administered to 15-year-old students in 65 countries. Girls outperformed boys in a majority of them. If this is so, then why don’t more girls join and excel in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)?
The answer might be more cultural and psychological, rather than physiological. Society as a whole is guilty of stereotyping, and these stereotypes influence the choices that you and I make. Think of it like this, if your teacher constantly tells you that you are bad at maths, chances are that you will never be truly good at it.
Why is it so essential that girls join these fields? The answer is simple. Science holds the key to solving many of the world’s problems — hunger, disease or waste and it is essential that the best brains — male or female — work at solving them. Also, just like mom and dad take decisions at home together, we need a female perspective on the problems we face. STEM fields represent a large, underutilised employment opportunity for women and more involvement of women in the work space means a stronger and larger economy, stronger families and empowered women.
So, let us take a pledge to learn more about women in Science and promise to not let their work go unappreciated. Together, let’s make sure that our future has the best brains working for it and not let the world tell us what we are good at. Science is for you, me and everyone. Here’s a special shout out to all our future female scientists — may your names be etched for posterity.
Get Science-d!
Who are some of the famous women in science that you know?
Everybody knows that Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize. But did you know that she is the only person ever, male or female, to get two Nobel Prizes in two different fields of Science?
Hedy Lamarr, the yesteryear Hollywood actor known for her ethereal beauty, invented a frequency-hopping technology that jammed radio-controlled enemy torpedoes sending them off course.
Augusta Ada King, popularly known as Ada Lovelace, is regarded as the first computer programmer for her work on the Analytical Engine, a mechanical general purpose computer and for recognising the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine.
The super cool bullet proof jackets that continue to save the lives of hundreds were made possible because of the research of a woman, Stephanie Kwolek.
Closer home, Dr. Indira Hinduja delivered India’s first ever test tube baby.
Last year, a young woman, Neena Gupta, was awarded the Indian National Science Academy’s medal for young scientists for solving a mathematical problem that was open for almost seven decades!
