In certain societies, young girls are taught they are ‘too emotional’ for science; this is not okay. Though society manages to paint certain fields as feminine or masculine, anyone should be able to seek a career they want, no matter their gender. When talking about the fields of science and math, one thing that should be discussed is the low number of women we see in STEM disciplines.
Why is there such a low count of women in these fields? Are they not strong enough to get into the “real” world of technology? Or are women not sensible enough to understand the complicated data constructions or mathematical computations?
Of course, the answer to all of these questions is no. It’s not about the capabilities of women; it’s about societal stereotypes. If one wants to know the cause of action, it is better to strike its root. Going back to the stone age, we see both men and women hunting animals, carving wood into wheels and lighting fire.
Here, there seems to be no discrimination between men and women in performing different kinds of tasks. So when did this start? Today, it appears that specific jobs are being decided based on gender. Whenever we talk about something creative or artistic, it seems those fields are intended for women. But when it comes to STEM fields, we assume that women do not fit in.
STEM fields involve a lot of sharp and rational thinking, analytical reasoning and mathematical computations; this is what makes them different from other areas. We can agree that it is something that needs to be taught to girls from a very early age that they can also work in STEM fields. It is not something that is only done by boys.
It is not that women do not fit in engineering; it is just that we need to break the stereotypes and provide the support and backbone to women for pursuing a career in STEM fields. Let’s get us more role models in these fields, people the coming generation of girls will look up to and move towards pursuing their career. It’s not impossible to foresee numbers of women in these fields to increase, but we as a society have to do work for that to happen.
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