Yes, Women Also Belong in STEM

Too Long; Didn't Read

As the resident scientist (fun fact, my Bachelor’s is in Chemistry) in my workplace, I was recently asked to write something for Women's Science Day. As I reflected, realized how big of a piece science still plays in my life, albeit indirectly, and how it reflects in my day-to-day job and my relationship with SQream (my place of employment). Science isn’t just about calculations or mixing substances in a lab, it’s not just developing a drug or discovering a new type of fish that no one has ever seen before, science is a way of thinking. It is the desire to analyze and explore the world around us, each in its own way. It’s the ability to look at our core assumptions every day and to stop for a moment to examine them, where they come from, where we learned them and how they improve us, or more critically, harm us. One of these assumptions, by the way, is the assumption that girls aren’t as good at STEM or suitable for that world as boys. Thinking further on this, I found another way this line of thought connects to feminism, which is very close to my heart. What are my core assumptions that have evolved due to decades and centuries in which it was illegal for women to engage in science? Obviously, they will think they can't, we didn't let them do it so there's not a vast enough history and well-known names in the field.