Recommended: Femininity vs masculinity in STEMM fields
“Are you a girl?”, “Do not be such a wimp”, “Be a man”; have you ever heard these words uttered to you at least once in your life? Probably not if you are a girl, most definitely yes if you are a boy. As a boy grows up and enters the journey of his life, phrases that question masculinity and discarding femininity are common everyday phrases in boys’ lives. Stereotype remarks which nurture the concept of a “Man” that people know of; toxic words that come out from people’s mouth without even realizing how dangerous it is. This paper is written mainly from a man’s perspective, adhering to the concept of manliness and male role belief system being talked in the film Tough Guise II.
This court case was brought to attention by Ken Wiebe, the creator of a website called “B.C Fathers” for fathers who have had their children removed from their custody due to, in their opinion, no reason. Dr. Pierrete Bouchard, the defendant, wrote a report called “School Success by Gender: A Catalyst for Masculinist Discourse” and had mentioned the plaintiff twice throughout her report, once by website, and once by name. Throughout this report she makes a number of recommendations to the law such as monitoring internet websites and amendments to the criminal code to properly deal with things directing towards women hate, such as this website. A photo was put in the report stated to have come from the plaintiff’s website presenting a photo
The stories of Junot Diaz feature various elements of social and personal issues that are highly prevalent in young Latinx men, primarily the compulsion and adverse effect of machismo, the poignancy of being an outcast in one’s community, and the lack of a father figure in a boy’s life. The first set of short stories prominently feature Ysrael, a Dominican boy whose face was disfigured by a pig when he was an infant. In “Ysrael”, he is the object of Yunior’s fascination, and the victim or Rafa’s (Yunior’s brother) torment.
In Ann L. Mullen’s article on “Gender, Social Background, and the choice of College major in a liberal arts context” highlights how gender along with social status impacts the choice of college major. Mullen writes, “ Men are more likely than women to major in engineering, the physical sciences, and fields that lead to jobs with high incomes and prestige”(Mullen 292). Additionally, the article explains how women are more likely to lean towards social sciences and how these programs are tailored to encourage women into these particular fields of study. Mullen goes on to explain how “nearly 80 percent have parents with at least a bachelor degree” (Mullen 296). through these findings she confirms that men are more likely to be concerned with
On 10 October 2015, Eileen Pollack published an article in the online New York Times titled “What Really Keeps Women Out of Tech”. This article points out that there is a serious gender and diversity problem among the computer science and engineering professions. Pollack uses the studies and experiments that Dr. Sapna Cheryan, a psychology professor at the University of Washington, has done to argue her points. Along with Dr. Cheryan’s experiments and conclusions, Pollack drew some of her own conclusions about being a woman in a male-dominated field and how it affected her mindset. Pollack’s article is overall effective because her main goal was to bring about awareness to the issue of computer science and engineering professions being male-dominated
The novel Guyland talks about middle white males and how they become a part of this Guyland. This is a state of extended period for young males throughout their college years and after before reaching adulthood. The novel defines this state as, “guyland is the world in which young men live. It in both a state of live, a liminal undefined time spend between adolescence and adulthood that can often stretch for a decade or more (Kimmel 2008:4) Men in this environment are affected by masculinity in the form that they have to conform to what society sees as masculine. These ideas can be seen in college life in the forms of binge drinking and Greek Organizations.
In the book, Women In Engineering, Judith McIlwee and Gregg Robinson assess the gender inequality within STEM by presenting both a female and male perspective. Their text is effective because the authors’ highly opinionated suggestions are backed by findings from credible research. After deep analysis, the authors conclude that a woman’s receiving of a degree in STEM is a broken promise because although there is a need for engineers, this need is met with male-preference and female oppression. The book explains that although there are women who fill these positions, the retention of women in these STEM occupations are low due to the lack of gender quality and respect within the workplace culture.
My father never thought that my ability to do work was hindered by my gender. In fact, he thought the exact opposite. So, that’s why, during the summer before fifth grade, I didn’t know how to respond when a boy told me, “Girls can’t play football.” My ten year old brain could not wrap itself around the words coming out of his mouth.
The misguided consensus that females are inferior has become weaker and opposed by the public. Nevertheless, it seems that instead of men, women are regarded to be incapable and criticized for imperfection more commonly. Virtually, girls have faced such uncomfortable situations created by their surroundings all the time since their early age. “You do well in math, so what? When you enter higher grades, boys will surpass.”
When she was studying in a rural public school, her principal expressed, “girls never go on in science and math.” This shows the biased role models in American K-12 schools. Teachers cannot foster the initiative of learning about science if they continue the stereotype threat. The negative stereotypes transmitted from schoolteachers affect girls’ science attitudes and eventually undermine their academic performance and interest in science. Female students are afraid of selecting a STEM major as their future career, because their science teachers indicate that they cannot get the same successful academic achievement in this field as men
Gender and Mastery Orientation Because girls are more mastery oriented, the shift to a more competitive environment may be detrimental to girls (Shim et al., 2008). Tang and Neber (2008) concluded that while academically gifted female chemistry students reported higher effort goal orientation, they used superficial cognitive strategies in learning science more frequently than boys, an issue mirrored in studies of gifted female students’ math abilities (Spelke, 2005; Gallagher, DeLisi, Holst, McGillicuddy-DeLisi, Morely, & Cahalan, 2000). Social Variables and Gender Linnenbrink and Pintrch (2002b) argue that numerous social variables such as a sense of belonging, the endorsement of social responsibility goals, the desire to be accepted by peer
With the US falling behind in STEM we are at risk of being outdated in our labor supply, teachers, H1-B visas, and global attainment. In order to compete with the rest of the world, the US has started pushing STEM more heavily these last 12 years. However, critics say that forcing STEM on students and rushing to get them into the field can cause people to be ill prepared. In the STEM field, many women claim that there is a double standard in their field of study and work. Although we are progressing with
As gender stereotypes in toys impact a child’s interest, this also influences their career choices. Through playing with toys, kids develop interests (Steinmatz). When kids are only offered half of the toys available, they don’t get the chance to gain interest in the toys declared for the opposite sex. Gender stereotypes limit the variety of toys that kids will form interests and skills upon (Clayton). The skills and interests kids develop during childhood shape what academic and career choices they make as adults (“Toys”).
Studies have found that gender stereotypes contribute heavily to the gender discrepancy in STEM (e.g., O’Brien et al., 2015). STEM fields are highly associated stereotypes with masculine traits (e.g., independent, assertive, highly technical). These stereotypes can lead to gender discrepancy in STEM in multiple ways. For instance, due to evaluations of students affected by gender-STEM stereotypes, faculty tend to offer more opportunities to men compared to women, such as job opportunities,
Moreover, according to the report presented by the US Department of Commerce, more than 50% of the total jobs in the country is taken by females. However, only 25% of them is in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (Stem), regardless of the 33% more value in the average salary of other industries (Knight, 2011). Reports also show that on average, men get higher salaries than women. Work expectations among men is also higher as compared to women (Hays & Farhar, 2000, p. 20). The report also indicates that for all those students who have graduated Stem, less women will pursue and advance in jobs in related fields.
