Carolin Pan Week 9: Girl Powered
Carolin Pan
Benedetti
18 January 2022
Girl Powered
Recently, I have been working on an online challenge with some other members of one of our school’s robotics teams and one of our topics was to write about how we interpret the phrase “girl powered.” At first we were thinking of all sorts of ways to make our writing as appealing to the judges as possible; however as we spent more time brainstorming and reflecting on the significance of the phrase, we began unearthing deeper meanings.
According to the United States Census Bureau "women made gains – from 8% of STEM workers in 1970 to 27% in 2019 – but men still dominated the field. Men made up 52% of all U.S. workers but 73% of all STEM workers'' (Martinez). It is known and also has been said over and over again that females are underrepresented in the STEM field, so the statistics should be something that everyone is already somewhat familiar with.Though there are progressively more women entering the STEM field, I have seen quite a few (totally real and not staged) videos of a single girl in a field of work where her voice is ignored or oppressed.
After weeks of pondering on the phrase, we realized that although it is important for females to demonstrate their knowledge and power in the various fields, increasing the amount of women in such fields of work can only be achieved through teamwork and support. To gain power in the STEM field, it is crucial for females to work to attain their successes together.
Hey Carolin. This reminds me of a friend of mine who is taking STEM courses in science at university. She told me there is such toxicity even in classes, where she felt as though the females of her class that sort of "buddied up" and became a team were actually the ones facing the most discrimination against the other males of the class. When she finally chose to distance herself, she saw that others valued her opinion more. Either way, it is ridiculous that we have to change our behavior in STEM fields to be considered a "valid candidate."
ReplyDeleteHi Carolin, it is sad to see the underrepresentation of women in stem fields. Last summer, I saw a couple of videos on my Instagram feed about how women are a big minority in computer science classes at most universities. I think the only way to solve this issue is to make STEM more interesting to the younger generation and to invest in youth STEM programs. I hope more women are represented in the stem field as a whole in the future.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey Carolin, I completely agree with you on the seeming inevitability of male dominance in the STEM industry. Even woth clubs like Gorls Eho Code and specialized programs and co ferences for girls, there always ends up being more maes in the imdustry. Even in our CSP class for rxample, there are only around 10 girls in a class of 30 people. I saw a similar and even wkrse trend in the cs clubs at out school where almost 90% of every club askde from VEX and GWC would be boys. It’s disappointing that even with all the progress made so far, girls still stand at such a minority, but hopefully if girls work together like you taked about, the opportunities will even out.
ReplyDeleteHi Carolin, many industries—just like the STEM industry— need to change and increase representation for women and minorities. It's unfortunate that the problem is not resolved, even in 2021. I don't think the responsibility for change only relies on women going into the STEM field. People in power right now, like predominantly male executives, must catalyze change and make that a priority. The STEM industry, the most impactful industry in the world, needs to change otherwise problems will continue to persist due to the narrow perspective that currently exists in the people in the STEM industry.
ReplyDeleteHey Carolin! I completely agree with everything you said as a matter of fact. Although you can say that we've made improvements along the years, it's still deeply saddening that females still stand as a minority as compared to males. It's even worse because the minority and majority is clearly distinguishable in almost everywhere, except places primarily for girls. For example, in a computer class I had taken about a year back online, for every girl, there were at least 3 boys. I hope one day it really does become an equal balance of females and males but it really does not look like we've made much serious progress from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteHello Carolin! It is certainly delightful to see that you are once again in my cohort. It is great to see a considerable difference in numbers with women in STEM today compared to the past. Nevertheless, sexism in the workplace is definitely real and continues to persist today. Even with this progress, the underrepresentation of women in stem and the disproportionate wages between men and women is unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteHi Carolin! The American workforce is really discrepant in that way, and the STEM industry especially needs to improve in so many ways, with a huge priority being to get more women in the workforce. Although there are improvements from history, I still find it disappointing that there are still companies that don't value the talents of a woman or discredit them. As the world changes and more women enter STEM fields, company executives, mostly men, need to be open and change their policies. A big way to do this is to garner experience that makes them valued workers, and I think your robotic's team as well as the various organizations promoting Girls in STEM are valuable for this industry.
ReplyDeleteHey Carolin,
ReplyDeleteDid you know that my older cousin is the only girl in her aeronautical engineering program, out of roughly twenty boys? After the two years they spend in this program, most of the boys only gain experience collaborating with other boys. My cousin said that it was common even for the teachers to subtly dismiss her and be more attentive to her classmates. Here in California, if someone seems condescending or dismissive towards me, I find it difficult to pinpoint whether it be because of my behavior, words, grades, skin color, physical appearance, or simply (but hopefully not) because I am a girl. I would like to think that in a society encouraging such diversity, people would not base their respect towards others on gender; however, in remaining ignorant to such people, I may waste my time pining over ways to "earn their respect" instead of focusing on what I need to reach my goal.
Hi Carolin, women definitely have to work together to make real strides in STEM fields. Men who are already in STEM fields should help women become successful too by not ignoring women’s voices and hindering progress. A collaborative effort is needed. It is possible that we in the Bay Area are more fortunate as women, but I can imagine in other states, women may be working even harder to break into STEM fields. Also, out of the women that are in STEM fields, it’s likely that only a small portion are minority women.
ReplyDelete