Why should we #breakthebias? Women in STEM
As the great Beyoncé Giselle Knowles once said,
Boy, you know you love it how we smart enough to make these millions. Strong enough to bear the children, then get back to business (Knowles, 2011).
As such, International Women’s Day celebrates the downright spectacular nature of women, and their contribution to society and culture as well as the political and economical world. Just as important as the celebration of women is highlighting, challenging and (hopefully) eradicating both conscious and unconscious gender bias that is so very pervasive in our everyday lives.
One of the many spaces in which women are underrepresented is in STEM education and careers. In the UK, 35% of students are women (HESA, 2021) and this gender balance only gets worse as women make up 24% of the UK STEM workforce (WISE, 2020). I am proud to be one of those women, and having spent the last 12 years either studying or working in STEM, I have a wealth of experience to share about working in a ‘man’s world’.
By my own nature, I don’t tolerate stereotyping or discrimination that is directed towards me. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, though. My most memorable example is when I was being interviewed as a PhD student for a science media publication and I was asked whether what my experience as a women in STEM had been like so far (and had I come across any instances of sexism). I just about managed to open my mouth to reply that my experience had actually been quite positive when my male supervisor cut me off and answered on my behalf. I am pretty sure that he still to this day doesn’t realise the irony of his actions. That instance is one of a few notable examples of outright sexism that I’ve experienced in my time studying and working in STEM and, unfortunately, most of the other instances are not very blog-friendly. And while those memories make my blood boil slightly, it’s the hidden bias that’s the most damaging element of inequality in STEM.
The true effect of having more men than women in the STEM workforce is that the world is designed by and for men. This means that cars are more dangerous for women because most of the crash test dummies that are used to increase safety measures are shaped with a male physique (Linder & Svedberg, 2019). It means that women are less likely to survive a major health crisis because when men and women experience comparable severe illness, women are less likely to be admitted to intensive care than men (Fowler, et al., 2007). It means that the PPE that many women wear for work (from stab vests to protective glasses) don’t fit properly because they are designed to fit the male form (TUC, 2017). Unfortunately, the list goes on – there are many more examples of this type of bias in Caroline Criado-Perez’s book, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for men. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day aims to tackle this hidden inequality by ‘breaking the bias’.
Breaking the bias, as the IWD 2022 campaign says, means challenging gender-based discrimination so that women can be just as celebrated as men. Much of this bias is currently implicit or hidden, and breaking the bias means shining a light on inequality because most people would be shocked to learn the real extent of it. By breaking the bias, we don’t just call out discrimination, but we create an environment where it’s safe and ok to call it out. If it’s normal to speak out and educate each other, real change and progress can be made. And while I personally have no problems calling out, that’s not the case for everyone and it bloody-well should be. By revealing and challenging hidden gender bias, we might be able to shape the world so that it is not designed solely for the standardized 50th centile male.
If you’ve read this far, I challenge you to do a bit of online research on hidden gender bias in science, engineering and medicine. Prepare to be annoyed by your findings, and then tell someone about what you found out.
Find out more on the International Women’s Day website.
Written by Dr Jessica Bownes, Effective Learning Adviser for the College of Science and Engineering