stem « Putting Smart Women in New Media

March 26, 2010

Men-can’t-take-care-of-babies stereotype

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: american association of university women, competent, dumb down, george washington university, science technology engineering math, stay at home, stem, stereotype, take care of babies, unlikable — Lisa Schaefer @ 1:06 pm

I went to a panel discussion at George Washington University put on by the American Association of University Women. AAUW just published a report on research they had done about how stereotypes affect girls’ and women’s performance in engineering and math. Girls do worse on math tests if you tell them beforehand that girls aren’t good at math.

April of Girls Inc., has a problem with moms who tell their kids “I’ve never been good at math. Go ask your dad.”

One point that was brought up several times was that women who are seen as competent are seen as unlikable. Therefore girls and women are given the message that they have to dumb themselves down in order for people to want to interact with them. Personally, if someone only wants to hang around with me if I’m dumb, then that’s not a someone I want to waste my time on.

Another point that was made – and this gets harped on all the time without asking the right question – is that women need flexible work places so they can sit home and take care of babies. Why doesn’t anyone ever ask why the men refuse to sit home and take care of babies?

I mentioned this to one woman. Her response was that men aren’t any good at it. Well, how the hell are we supposed to get rid of the women-aren’t-competent-in-their-jobs stereotype when we’re refusing to get rid of the men-can’t-take-care-of-babies stereotype?

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December 30, 2009

We need something first before female role models in math & science can be effective

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: classes, engineering, harassment in the classroom, harassment in the workplace, math, menial labor, pollyanna, professional, professional women, role models, science, science math engineering technology, secretaries, stem, technology, unprofessional men, women engineers, women scientists — Lisa Schaefer @ 3:06 pm

Whenever I see an article about female role models in math and science, it bothers me a little because I don’t think that lack of role models are the main reason why there aren’t many women in math and science fields. From what I’ve seen in my professional experience, the problem is the way in which women in math and science fields are treated.

We can’t just go out and send a bunch of girls to take math and science classes, then expect that we’ll end up with a bunch of female mathematicians and scientists. The problem is that once they get into the workforce – and sometimes even the problem starts in the classroom – they’re treated like they’re not wanted there. And sure, a lot of men are also treated like they’re not wanted there, however the problem is often much worse for women.

In male dominated workplaces, women are still treated like objects, often like sex objects. Often they’re treated like secretaries even if they have a PhD. As we saw in an the ABC news clip of an FAA conference, some men thought it was normal to ask women in a professional venue whether she was a hooker. When I worked in the FAA the building, I had to experience that type of treatment every day.

Thus I feel a moral obligation to first let society know what it is like to work in a math and science field. I also wish to encourage girls to learn as much math and science as they can. However I do not want to give girls the impression that doing so will lead them into a Pollyanna environment, as the goal of organized girl science days often seems to be. Instead I believe these young women will need an additional education in being very tough when dealing with these less-than-professional men.

But even more so, these so-called “professional” men first need to learn how to treat women with respect.

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