Growing up, I never felt like I was seen as less than, sure there were the seldom “you play like a girl “ comments, but those were easily brushed off. It wasn’t until I entered college as a STEM undergraduate that I began to feel a shift in fairness. Harvard Business Review previously published an article on the "5 Biases Pushing Women Out of STEM" (https://hbr.org/2015/03/the-5-biases-pushing-women-out-of-stem). This was a great read and in all honesty it was somewhat reassuring to see that the problem at hand is finally being addressed. After reading this, I felt the need to talk about some of the struggles my peers and I have faced.
1. The “You Don’t Belong” concept
Before college, I never knew how common it was to see so few women in a Physics course. Although I attend a small university, I never anticipated to be only one of three females in any of my Physics classes. I love my fellow nerds, but often I feel like I am out of place. At times it can be really difficult to be a part of science knowing that I am part of the small population of females that pursue similar degrees. That being said, there is also a huge effort to enhance the support of women in STEM. Take, for instance, a recent series of conferences that I have been a part of the last few years called CUWiP, Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics. It is an opportunity for women pursuing a degree in physics to come together from different areas and work as a support system for one another. It is in this setting where I often regain my morale and feel the desire to keep pushing forward with my dreams. For any undergraduate women that ever struggle with STEM I encourage you to find one of these conferences and take the opportunity to feel like you do belong in science.
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2. The Difference Between Assertive and Bitchy
Please forgive my language, but this is the most fitting word. As a woman in STEM this has been most difficult for me to deal with. I have always been the type of person to go after what I want. My parents taught me to always be respectful, but to never be afraid to speak my mind. That being said, I have often heard the backlash that I need to be less assertive and try to “play nice.” Society expects women to be very nurturing and kind figures and when women act differently problems begin to arise. I find this to be very frustrating because it is almost impossible to “play nice” in such a competitive setting. For my athletes reading this, it is comparable to being in the last minute of a game and passing the ball to the other team because you want to be nice. No, athletes don’t act this way, so why are women in science expected to? We are equally entitled to fight for what we want, so why are we perceived as rude and bitchy when we do so? In my eyes, it is important to be assertive in science, so I am not overlooked or ignored. I want to count as a scientist.
3. You Just Got it Because You Are a Girl
As some of my friends could tell you, I often hear my male counterparts say this and it pushes me over the edge. I am very thankful that different summer programs have given me a chance and I know my life would not be the same without them. However, in the last two years when I have gotten opportunities to be a researcher at National labs I have consistently been told that I only receive these opportunities because I am female. Upon initially hearing this, instead of standing up for myself, I conformed to the idea that they were right, I must not have really been qualified and was simply helping the lab hit a female quota. Since then, my perspective has changed. Upon getting my internship at the National Laboratory of Standards and Technology, instead of being congratulated, I was faced with similar ridicule. This was very difficult and discouraging. In fact, three of the four students that received funding to travel outside of our university for research were women. Rather than letting others make the female researchers feel like they didn’t deserve it, I decided to stand up for us. We do not receive these chances solely because we are women. We, as undergraduates, receive opportunities because we work our asses off and spend solid amounts of time on the application process. We are all equally capable and our difference in our anatomy make up does not make us any less qualified.
Regardless of your gender, I am pleading with you. Please be someone working towards a better future rather than taking more steps back. Science as a concept does not discriminate so why should we? We are all affected by the components of science and need it to advance our societies. Having a more inclusive scientific community not only allows for more collaboration, but also allows for different perspectives to be brought in. No one person is expected to know all of the answers, but together we can make huge changes. I am still fighting, but I know others that have fallen out of the race because they couldn’t handle the criticism or they felt like they weren’t good enough. Anyone, whether they are white, black, green, orange, female, male, or anything in between can pursue any passion as long as they have determination. Why put more obstacles on the course that’s already intense to begin with? We can do this if we work together.
