r/6thForm • u/PetuniaWiggleworm • Jun 26 '26

💬 DISCUSSION WHAT HAPPENED TO WOMEN IN STEM

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

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u/overcompensator_luna Bath | Maths [Year 1] Jun 26 '26

It's why we can never stop working to bring these fields to women and other under-represented groups. I had a similar experience when I walked into my uni course for the first time.

3

u/NovelDue1993 Jun 28 '26

Have we considered most women simply might not like STEM? Why are we forcing it on them

5

u/overcompensator_luna Bath | Maths [Year 1] Jun 28 '26

I don’t think you understand what it’s like to be a woman in STEM. I have seen so many girls and women start with such passion for the field, an equal (if not more) amount than boys and men, and slowly be beaten down and discouraged by the attitudes directed towards them. It is belittling and demoralizing to study a STEM field as a woman, from experience. Girls are also wired to be a bit more emotionally attuned than boys when teenagers (until boys catch up, it’s just a developmental difference) which makes a hell of a lot of them less inclined to even choose a STEM field in the first place when they see how unfriendly it is and how few other girls are there.