Gender Does Not Determine Genius Melissa stormed out of her engineering class angered and fuming about what has just happened. At this point she had lost track of how many times her older male professor had made sly remarks about her being the only young women in her specific class, and how there must be some reasons behind her ‘odd’ choices. Melissa, like many other young women, experienced firsthand discrimination of women entering the STEM fields. For years many of the STEM field jobs have been filled by mainly men. Society has shaped young girls and their choices as women with its gender specific toys, different educational standards, and job expectations. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of women entering the STEM fields, …show more content…
Overall, the lack of women in prestige and/or powerful positions in the collegiate environment can affect women’s progress in STEM fields. Research by Terrell Strayhorn, James Devita, and Amanda Blakewood (2012) shows that “at the senior [collegiate] faculty level (ie associate or full), sex disparities are even more pronounced with men outnumbering women 4:1 in computer science, 7:1 in math and physical sciences, and 13:1 in engineering.” Without these women in higher power positions, there are very few role models for girls to look up to while pursuing their STEM interests in college. College is a time of change, finding oneself, and growth, which can lead to life-changing decisions like whether to keep or change a major. For many women in the STEM field majors, these are decisions that must be made without the help of a woman role model or advisor. Many could argue that sex is not the determinate of a quality role model or advisor, which may be true in some cases. However, role models and advisors are often people that students aspire to be like one day. It is extremely difficult to expect women students to aspire to be like a male role model or advisor when men cannot relate to the difficulties women must face daily to succeed in the STEM fields. Hence why the number of women entering a STEM profession is influenced by collegiate educational