Laura Bassi discussion

Your discussions of Paula Findlen’s article about the career of the 18th-century Italian physicist Laura Bassi and about sexism in science today were generally quite good. I’m going to share a few of the best comments from students on the problems women in the sciences still face in the 21st century.

Several students cited statistics on the unequal participation of women in the sciences:

  • “Women also make up only about 30% of the science and engineering workforce and 25% of senior academic faculty positions at universities.” (David Potts)
  • “There is a measurable gap in salaries between genders in the computer sciences workplace.  There are even fewer women now than in the 1980s pursuing degrees in computer science.” (David Grubb)
  • “White men make up a little more than half of the workforce for science and engineering.” (Hope McKnight)

(Hope’s comment points to the intersections of race and gender in science. Not only are women disadvantaged, but so are people of color, so that women of color suffer a double disadvantage in pursuing careers in science.)

Some students pointed out that even when women DO pursue careers in the sciences, they are paid on average less than men for the same jobs, and can face other forms of discrimination. Kevin Payment gives a striking example of this problem.  In the summer of 2012, “researchers at Yale published a study proving that physicists, chemists and biologists are likely to view a young male scientist more favorably than a woman with the same qualifications. Presented with identical summaries of the accomplishments of two imaginary applicants, professors at six major research institutions were significantly more willing to offer the man a job. If they did hire the woman, they set her salary, on average, nearly $4,000 lower than the man’s” (citing Eileen Pollack).

Multiple students commented that the under representation of women in our draw-a-scientist sample clearly indicated that there are social and cultural pressures working against women pursuing careers in science. For example, “perhaps the fact that most of the drawings were male is a stereotypical indicator in itself that creates an unwelcoming feeling for women hoping to enter the scientific field.” (Madison Mobley) Some of these pressures are subtle and some are not. Several female students shared experiences of being directly told they could not pursue careers in certain scientific or medical fields; and a few male students shared instances of discrimination that their female partners or friends had experienced. (I chose not to quote these directly in case people did not want them shared with the entire class.)

Tiffany Daniel and Char Mullin both pointed to the different forms of socialization young girls and boys receive.  Char notes, “Even as little girls, females are not given building blocks or erector sets to play with, instead the toy aisles of children’s stores are lined with engineering kits for boys and baby dolls, vacuums, kitchens, and other “domestic” toys that teach little girls their roles in society.” Tiffany was hopeful that “Disney princesses becoming more empowered and shows like Netflix's Project MC2 are having a positive impact on young girls' [interest in science].”

In addition to efforts to encourage girls to pursue careers in science (noted by several students), there are professional organizations that promote and support women in the sciences. These include the Society of Women Engineers, the Association for Women in Science (David Potts); and Women in Global Science & Technology (WISAT), and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) (Jesse Carr).

Two problems that I noted:

  • Many people lost points for not posting promptly. You must make your first post by Thursday at noon in order to get full credit. This gives all members of the group enough time to read and comment on each others’ posts.
  • You must respond to at least TWO other students’ posts.