It is known that men, specifically white cis-males, are always painted as the superior. Patriarchy is a concept that has been instilled into our societies and will forever be one of the hardest things to get our society as a collective to unlearn. There are many instances where women are often being misrepresented or not represented enough, from work places to certain schools, we see women being portrayed as less capable or willing than men. A big one that even I face is the representation of women in STEM, specifically in the sciences.
I have been reading and hearing about women being discredited, getting their work stolen, or even disregarded in the field of science for as long as I can remember. As someone who has decided to become a scientist and do research, I am often being warned about the issues I will face with my male colleagues. There are many stories shared by women where not only are they diminished but often even sexually harassed. Women are often facing aggressions in this field of studies because it has been pushed to believe that it’s meant for men. Like I said the aggressions can be something as small as not enough restrooms for the number of women working in the building to taking a woman’s name off of a paper & discrediting her for the hard work she has put in.
It is very disheartening that up to this day not much progress has been made to end these patriarchal ideas in regards to women in STEM. We often see women speaking up against these issues but not enough people are truly listening or doing anything to help out. We need to continue to fight for all women and all genders that are not cis-men to receive a seat at the table that they deserve and have worked so hard to receive.
We can’t continue letting male scientists get away with taking full credit for what their women colleagues have done. I don’t want to hear anymore stories of a woman being bullied off her research team. I don’t want to hear the horror stories of women being hurt or sexualized by her male colleagues. I don’t want for me or any other woman to grow with fear of being pushed aside in the career path we have chosen.