Introduction
Women currently hold roughly 25% of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics) jobs in the United States, despite a roughly equal representation in the
workplace as a whole (Beede 2011). It seems as though our society has accepted the
presence of women in the workplace, on the condition that women only occupy jobs
deemed suitable for their gender. Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers made a
speech in January of 2005, claiming that the reason women are underrepresented in
scientific higher academia was due to innate biological differences. He claimed that
socialization and expectations of women “didn’t explain the differences between the
sciences and mathematics and other fields” (Hemel 2005). Summers colleagues also …show more content…
One book, The Only Woman in the Room, focused on not only
the author’s individual experiences within the realm of physics academia, but also on
other individual’s experiences and how they were affected by their mentor’s
encouragement, or lack thereof, as well as familial and peer encouragement (Pollack
2015). Eileen Pollack, author of The Only Woman in the Room, says that her
abandonment of physics and her goal to graduate school was due primarily to a lack of
encouragement on the part of her academic advisor. This lead to an introspective, as well
as external, analysis of why women were so discouraged in science in the first place, and
whether or not men have the same experiences. It is the analysis of these experiences that
will help uncover the true reason for unequal representation of women in STEM, and will
move beyond the flippant argument that attributes this to biological differences.
Inherent Differences
Until the 1990’s, there was a general consensus that the performance of women in
subjects such a math and science was significantly lower than those of men, due
Women currently hold roughly 25% of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics) jobs in the United States, despite a roughly equal representation in the
workplace as a whole (Beede 2011). It seems as though our society has accepted the
presence of women in the workplace, on the condition that women only occupy jobs
deemed suitable for their gender. Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers made a
speech in January of 2005, claiming that the reason women are underrepresented in
scientific higher academia was due to innate biological differences. He claimed that
socialization and expectations of women “didn’t explain the differences between the
sciences and mathematics and other fields” (Hemel 2005). Summers colleagues also …show more content…
One book, The Only Woman in the Room, focused on not only
the author’s individual experiences within the realm of physics academia, but also on
other individual’s experiences and how they were affected by their mentor’s
encouragement, or lack thereof, as well as familial and peer encouragement (Pollack
2015). Eileen Pollack, author of The Only Woman in the Room, says that her
abandonment of physics and her goal to graduate school was due primarily to a lack of
encouragement on the part of her academic advisor. This lead to an introspective, as well
as external, analysis of why women were so discouraged in science in the first place, and
whether or not men have the same experiences. It is the analysis of these experiences that
will help uncover the true reason for unequal representation of women in STEM, and will
move beyond the flippant argument that attributes this to biological differences.
Inherent Differences
Until the 1990’s, there was a general consensus that the performance of women in
subjects such a math and science was significantly lower than those of men, due