By Kerri
Provost , May 1, 2013 7:58
am
In tenth grade I dropped out of Physics during the
first week. Not the teacher, guidance counselor,
nor anyone else in school challenged this decision, which sprang out of
frustration with one homework assignment, despite my finding the classes to be
accessible and engaging. One’s plans of
being an astronaut get thwarted by missing Physics credits.
Even while abstractedly knowing about the gender
gap in the sciences, it wasn’t until Laura
Huerta Migus spoke at
the Connecticut
Science Center on
Tuesday that I heard another female tell a similar story. While at
Title IX may have removed structural barriers for
women, but a culture persists in which females take themselves out of the
running, either as adolescents or while in
college .
Being “the only person representing your cultural
experience and background,” Huerta Migus said, “cannot
be minimized.”
That experience of being the only woman in a classroom or in the workforce is
“extremely dissuasive for persistence.”
Huerta Migus explained that while girls have a
higher GPA than boys in math, there is a sharp drop off of females taking
classes in science, technology, engineering, and math after a certain age.
In 2009, women earned 18% of all engineering
degrees conferred to
Between that sense of being an “only” and the
failure of being pushed to try, particularly in the high stakes, high stress
setting created by No Child Left Behind standardized testing, females continue
to opt out of science, technology, engineering, and math.
The keynote speaker, citing science centers as “no
rules,” hands-on environments, considered them as spaces where girls and women
could be engaged in ways they might not be in school settings. Huerta Migus, the Co-Principal
Investigator on the Girls
RISE Museum Network project , was at the
This initiative,
currently sponsored by the Petit
Family Foundation ,
will include Saturday science workshops for girls, a career fair in the fall for
middle school-aged girls, and a “scavenger hunt” at the
Dr. William Petit, in explaining his support of the
pilot program, asked “Why should we not reap the potential of half of society?”
He acknowledged that women are well-represented in
the biological sciences, but not so much elsewhere. Huerta Migus echoed this with data
showing how few degrees were conferred to women in computer science, physical
science, and engineering.
“Homogenous thought,” she said, “is not conducive
to a diverse future.”
“What we’re still living with,” after the structural barriers have been removed,
after schools have shown that they know how to create gender neutral experiences
in science classrooms, are “cultural beliefs about who belongs,” Huerta Migus
told the predominately female audience.
Dr. Theodore Sergi, the retired President & CEO of the
It’s important, she said, to not tiptoe around the
issue with girls. Huerta Migus explained that they are
aware, and when the issue of under-representation of females in science and
engineering is brought up to them, many — especially adolescents — are propelled
by their sense of justice and driven to stick with it.
Along with the new programs and scavenger hunt,
the Connecticut
Science Center will be
adding a section to its website providing information about the initiative,
along with resources that may help address these disparities.
http://www.realhartford.org/2013/05/01/celebrating-women-in-science-initiative-launched/