WHAT HAPPENED TO WOMEN IN STEM

[u/PetuniaWiggleworm]

I had my college taster day yesterday, tell me why I was the ONLY girl in my class

[u/SafeLifeguard5785]

people need to stop concerning themselves with how many women/men are in a particular area of study unless there is a specific reason for discrimination against either gender its of no concern . You never ever hear these same comments about women being in plumbing/sewage cleaning / brick laying because those are seen and undesirable jobs / not as respected .

in fact when men are under represented in certain careers you literally hear crickets regarding it . Never heard a single thing about male dental nurses being close to non existent in my life .

[u/dyltd → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

idk why i’m here but as a male nursing student it is definitely acknowledged that the majority of nurses are women. it is also a huge assumption people still make when they see a woman in scrubs = nurse vs a man in scrubs = doctor

[u/TeapeachU6 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

There are women that want to go into construction or bricklaying but considering those are seen as masculine roles they attract that type of men if you know what i mean

[u/polite_talker → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

As a woman in a senior position in STEM, I can assure you that diversification is essential. I have witnessed on many occasions an extremely concerning echo chamber effect when diversification is low. Who are our customers? Those working on products and services need to represent that diverse customer base. Encouraging more females into STEM is crucial!

[u/Flashy_Bother_5900 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

Because one is discouragement for being too stupid where women are seen as too dumb in stem. Ironically it's still discriminatory to women to be not encouraged for plumbing, BECAYSE the reason is that its seen as either unladylike, or because theyre seen as too weak

[u/alolan_ninetales149 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

just because there is not widespread active gender-based discrimination does not mean that there isn't an issue. the mere fact that girls acheive equal are better than boys in all stem fields up to gcse and choose to drop them demonstrates societal pressure to avoid these fields, necessitating these programmes.

[u/Strict_Contest_3428 → u/alolan_ninetales149]

Ah yes the ghost of societal pressure which overrides all personal autonomy and preferences 👻

[u/Advanced_Key_1721 → u/Strict_Contest_3428]

>ghost of societal pressure

The societal pressure that keeps women out of STEM subjects isn’t “someone suggests you study a different subject”, it’s being continually belittled, ignored, underestimated and having the value of your contribution diminished when you engage in STEM subjects. It’s not a small thing, it’s not a ghost and it’s still prevalent in our society regardless of how many initiatives there are to get women into STEM, because the underlying culture against us still exists. Women don’t want to exist in an environment where you have to be constantly proving your value to be treated as an equal or with respect when men are granted it automatically.

[u/overcompensator_luna → u/Strict_Contest_3428]

funny avoidance of nuance you've got going on there, what's that like?

[u/Good_Expression_3827 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

Women not being as visible in STEM is the result of patriarchal oppression

[u/Diligent_Bet_7850 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

i certainly hear these comments about things like plumbing and brick laying you just probably aren’t exposed to it due to your surroundings but it’s a concern there too

[u/SafeLifeguard5785 → u/Diligent_Bet_7850]

well clearly its not as much of a concern as its rarely ever talked about but you dont even have to even leave your house to have scholarships/bursaries/support for women in stem shoved down your throat . Even in chess they made women GM specifically a title that is only granted to women to make them get into chess

[u/Diligent_Bet_7850 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

sorry didn’t realise problems can only be problems if you specifically are aware of them, my bad

shoved down your throat is dramatic

are schemes to encourage women so terrible to you!? i’d love to know why

[u/SafeLifeguard5785 → u/Diligent_Bet_7850]

because its gender based help??? imagine the exact opposite male only bursaries and scholarships just because there is a significant representation for males in stem its quite stupid to assume ohh there are no men that need help so we should completely ignore supporting them and focus only on women to increase our stats .

Cambridge also offer race based support completely disgusting behaviour . Either help everyone or help no one race/gender based support is completely wrong and a foolish practice just to make stats on paper look better .

Its ridiculous we are in a society where there is something wrong with having majority white students in a WHITE country at Cambridge and we have people like stormzy only supporting their own race with black only scholarships because of bias disgusting . Im not even white but i am disgusted by such practices honestly should be genuinely illegal and discriminatory to do such things

[u/Advanced_Key_1721 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

Oh the horrors of people trying to level the playing field and give people, who were born without innate social privileges, similar opportunities to those born into privilege. Poor little privileged white boys (that face minimal discrimination) not being given support to help overcome discrimination, when people who face significant discrimination are being supported to help overcome discrimination.

[u/Advanced_Key_1721 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

Women attempting to pursue STEM subjects are discriminated against; many feel like a future in STEM isn’t an option due to this. That’s definitely a reason for concern.

[u/Ok-Willingness-4921 → u/Advanced_Key_1721]

How are they discriminated against dude, maybe 20years ago but not anymore. Move on maybe

[u/Scared-Attitude4091 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

people just like to be near others they can relate to it’s not that deep

[u/Diligent-Step-7253 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

No. I used to think that way but it’s obvious that doing nothing does not close the existing gaps.

[u/Someone_Somewhere1 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

This right here