Telling Women's Lives

Madison Woodruff – Women in Science

While I was aware of a lot of these issues, I didn’t realize the extent of this issue. In the article, “Peering Into Universe, Spots Bias on the Ground,” made me extremely aware of the problem with sexual assault in male dominated careers. I was aware this is also a huge issue in military branches as well, but I always assumed that most of those committing the sexual assault were less educated enlisted soldiers rather than officers. In this situation, at an astrophysics convention, there’s clearly no question of education. It absolutely mind-boggling that highly educated men would have the audacity to sexually harass or assault a woman, especially at such a prestigious convention. The fact that this field is highly male-dominated could be a huge reason as to why women choose other paths. It’s extremely intimidating to spend your life as a minority and might leave women feeling extremely vulnerable. These articles also made me extremely aware of how much women are discouraged from the field. It shocked me to see the statistics of women vs men with PhDs. I assumed women had less, but not nearly by that much. Before reading these articles, I contemplated why women wouldn’t go into STEM work. I thought back to “How Remarkable Women Lead,” and questioned whether women just don’t find meaning in STEM work. When considering this, I also question if where women find meaning is a societal construct. The book mentioned that men typically find meaning in power positions while women consider what really gives them life. I shut this idea down immediately. Everyone is happier when considering what gives them life, but society has pushed men to put that to the side for power positions while women haven’t been pressured into power positions so they can truly consider their own happiness. This being said, the articles show that women truly do enjoy STEM work but they are either discouraged or not at all encouraged while men are. It’s not just a matter of meaning, but a matter of men being pushed into these kinds of careers while women are being pushed away.