Last week, I was taking the group portion of my weekly math quiz, and I was put in a group with a couple of guys. The problem we were working on had three parts that built up on one another, and I said I was confident about my Part A answer but wanted to discuss Part B with the group. I had gotten a different answer than them for that specific portion, but it’s because there was a trick phrase in the problem that I was happy I caught. They then wanted to spend time confirming the answer amongst themselves instead of looking at my work because they were still certain they did it the right way.
Internally, I was frustrated. I didn’t know how many other times I had to explain or justify my work, and honestly, some part of me was questioning if I did it right, even though I went into the discussion with full confidence in my answer. I told my mom about my experience after class, and she told me I should’ve stood my ground more and had a little bit more faith in myself.
It’s so interesting to me how something as routine and simple as not being heard enough in a group discussion boils down to how important it is to encourage women to go into STEM and more importantly, provide them enough resources to stay there. It is one thing to be capable of doing something, but it’s another to be given similar opportunities to do so. And an environment where you are heard and respected is definitely something that leads to opportunity.
Unfortunately, these environments are not always available, and they cannot be made overnight. This makes it even more important to have self-confidence to stand for your work and to push yourself even in uncomfortable situations, something I am clearly still learning how to do. I’m not saying you need to go out of your way to explain yourself; I definitely do not do that. However, when confronted with something that challenges your work or point of view, remind yourself why you did what you did.
In this way, maintaining confidence in yourself and encouraging it in other women could definitely help the declining rates of overall STEM retention, especially in niche engineering fields where male-discussion seems to be overpowering. I have realized now that the worst that could come from me defending my work would be that I am proven wrong, and I am completely fine with being proven wrong and learning from it.