If you walk down the hallways of the Physics-Astronomy Building, you’ll see these posters of the Nobel Prize in Physics Awards. They tell you about the award-winning research and also the researchers who conducted it. They have posters for maybe the past twenty years or so.
I took a look at them while waiting for my quiz section in PAB. I got through maybe ten before realizing something strange—none of the recipients were women. I made a quick trip up and down the hallway just to check and sure enough, there was not a single woman up there. Every award had been given to a man.
At this point, I realized something was off. At least half of the awards up there should have gone to women. But no, the whole wall was male.
I had always heard that women were underrepresented and disadvantaged compared to men in STEM fields, but the fact didn’t fully register with me until then. Statistically, there had to be at least one woman up there. But that all the recipients were male meant that there was something skewed in the system itself.
Maybe it’s the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes, or lack of role models in scientific fields; I can’t say. But the fact remains that women are still a rare sight to see in STEM.
So what do those of us that are in the field do, when it seems like even statistics aren’t in our favor? One thing is outreach: to show younger girls that females can be more than successful, but happy in STEM as well. There also are numerous communities out there like female RSOs, sororities, and diversity forums, that provide a place for women to come together and share their common experiences. Listening to the stories of other women can be both inspiring and refreshing.
But beyond sharing our experiences with others, I think it’s important to remember why we’re here in the first place, too. It could be because we want to answer big research questions, or because we want to make the world a better place to be in. I’m here because I love the subject—I love the problem-solving we do, I love learning about the natural world, and I love being able to help thousands of other people around the globe. Even if I were the only female scientist in the world, I don’t think I’d trade my position for anything else.
Science is not an easy subject—it requires deep, critical processing and the ability to view things from multiple perspectives. It’s hard to have a handle on so much information with just one brain sometimes.
But that being said, pursuing science at the collegiate level is an impressive feat. So congratulations on having come so far! You’ve done so much already. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see your face on that wall someday.