I have been interested in science since the end of primary school, when I had a role as a scientist’s assistant. In this role, I would be able to demonstrate to younger years why I liked science so much. This passion continued through to secondary school, and even now, I still have the same inquisitive mind as I did a few years ago. But it seems that only a small number of women share the same enthusiasm for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics careers, otherwise known as STEM. This is why I want to focus on in this in my article, so we can spread the word to girls and come to a conclusion about what we need to do in the future so that we don’t run out of bright minds in the STEM sector of the workplace.
My personal view is that women should be free to do whatever they want in life. I think that we are brainwashed by social media, being told that girls have to have a thin structure or men need to have a 6 pack. I think we are being categorised unfairly in terms of our appearances, opinions, religion, intelligence and faith. However, I don’t believe that the media is entirely to blame. Historical behaviours have also influenced our beliefs, such as women being the weaker sex and women earlier in history having little control over their lives. In my opinion, this is what has caused a small percentage of women in STEM. I think that is quite sad because there is so much that women could bring to the industry such as a different viewpoint and perspective which men might not necessarily consider. I wanted to find out if students in different year groups thought the same.
I interviewed three students from different year groups. All of them had some really good suggestions and viewpoints on this topic.
I first spoke to a student called Ali who said that women are “afraid for resistance from other people because they are different”. She also said that “before, science was a male dominant field, even though women had the right qualifications. I think this view will change when there are more female political figures, such as more female prime ministers.”
I spoke to Jess, who said that women in STEM careers are “inspirational” and “encouraging for our generation”. They also said that the media influences our view, portraying women as “not weak, but not interested enough to pursue a STEM career. Also, girls tend to pick more ‘creative’ subjects as parents don’t inspire girls from a young age to dream bigger than that”
Thirdly, I went to interview a year 7 boy who said he thinks there is a low percentage of women in STEM careers because of “religious views in that God and other people in religion are men”. He also agrees that the media has influenced this too.
To conclude, women in STEM careers are in short supply, and we need more women to enter this field soon. The people I spoke to all have very interesting viewpoints on this subject and I look forward to seeing what people in power do about this issue in the future.
