Article Summary

The Battle of the Sexes When It Comes to Science

Curiosity is defined as a strong desire to know or learn something.” It is this that led men and women of the past and present into the science, technology, engineering and math fields. It is the same curiosity that led me to this research topic, Women and Science.

I chose three articles on my research topic and in reading these articles I found a common theme: methods interest the minds of women into the field of science and engineering. Each of these articles portrays this theme in a different manner. The first article, “Women and Science: What’s the Problem” by Lisa Garforth and Anne Kerr, attempts to find the root of the problem of a low percentage of women pursuing a role in the area of science or engineering background. The second article, “Women in Science: Racial and Ethnic Differences and the Differences They Make” by Cheryl B. Leggon, researches facts about women in the United States. Acknowledging how the areas for more women to be a part of these employment roles have only changed slightly, and many women would like to establish more opportunities for women to gain an interest in these areas of study. Finally there is the last article, “ A Changing World: New Opportunities for Women Engineers and Scientists” by Kordula Kugele, that uses a meeting of the minds to raise interest and awareness of the different resources available to help more women gain access to the field of science and engineering.

These articles have a large common theme involving the discussion of a necessity of engaging more women in pursuit of scientific fields. They also have some differences to them as well this was seen in the article, “ Women and Science: What’s the Problem” by Lisa Garforth and Anne Kerr, these women discuss the fact that the percentage of women in the field of science is low in the United Kingdom and would like to find a way to encourage more women to pursue this area employment and education. Garforth and Kerr draw the reader in with the statements of a low percentage of women working in scientific fields though their solution is not what one may think, they say, “…the problem with “women in science” is typically framed as a problem for employers to solve by removing barriers.”(14) Garforth and Kerr tell the audience that the employers need to take down the barriers of gender, ethnicity and culture, and race, so that everyone can get a fair chance at being a part of this field. The authors go on to say, “ Women can contribute, by becoming more confident, but they are not the problem themselves. In fact, they are often the solution—to skills shortage and greater public engagement with science, for example.”(14) This statement brings light to the idea that women are not a problem in the field of science but rather they are the solution. Garforth and Kerr let their audience see that women can be of great service and all they need is a little boost of confidence. The conclusions that I draw from this article is one of hope that the United Kingdom can learn to encourage the women wishing to go into this field to have the confidence to see past their gender, culture, and race; and get down to the science of the matter. Also all of us as the audience should take a deeper look and remember that whenever we remark about the success of women in the scientific field that we do not need to also remark about the fact that they are “women.”

The second article I chose is called, “Women in Science: Racial and Ethnic Differences and the Differences They Make” by Cheryl B. Leggon. This article concerns research on women in science fields. It also, states the fact that there are a low percentage of women in the science and engineering fields in the United States. On the positive side of this article it did inform the reader that there are more women who are becoming more aware of the content of these fields and are pursuing higher-level degrees in them. Leggon gives examples of women getting an higher education in science field with statistics. She notes that, “Each year since 1992, there has been an increase in the number of science bachelor’s degrees in the natural sciences awarded to women who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S.” (327) Leggon shows her audience that women should not give up hope in becoming a part of scientific fields. Even though women still have a lower number degrees in science than men women’s numbers are raising who knows what could happen in the next few years.

Finally the third article I chose entitled “ A Changing World: New Opportunities for Women Engineers and Scientists” by Kordula Kugele writes about the “14^th International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists.” The article addresses the audience about the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientist, and how they have formed a positive global networking system. This system aids and assists women to learn more about how they can access their role as part of the science fields from an educational and research aspect. This organization was developed to create a better future for women wishing to enter the fields of science and engineering; and to help give them resources to obtain knowledge from other women in the field to gain a better understanding of the challenges that may lie ahead for them. Kugele describes what happened at the conference to help women gain an interest and an understanding for what is ahead in scientific fields, she tells “The three-day conference, structured around 140 oral sessions and 50 poster presentations, was a valuable opportunity for exchanging knowledge and international networking.”(98) This quote depicts many of the things that went on at the conference. Many of these presentations along with the oral sessions allowed women in the fields to speak about the challenges as well as the triumphs of their time working and studying science and engineering.

While I read each article I found I gained an opinion on what each of the authors said. I loved the first article it really gave me a feeling for what is going on in places other than the United States. It gave me a good understanding for the problems the United Kingdom is having and how they are looking to solve their problems. I also enjoyed the second article though there was some times that the data became a little overwhelming. It still was quite enjoyable to hear about many of the good and promising statistics. After reading the final article I know I want to be a scientist someday and join the women at the International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists. Everything that the author described made me feel like I was right in the action going on at the conference. I enjoyed learning about all this new information about women in science.

Overall these articles have a good message of reaching the younger generation of women in the world and giving them a chance to enter the science, engineering, technology, and mathematical fields if they are interested. Each article had different ideas in reaching women young and old. Hopefully one day each of them will get through to enough women to truly reform the science fields forever. At the beginning of this paper I spoke of curiosity and I believe that even though curiosity killed the cat it does not mean women should not take a chance on making a something of themselves in this amazing field.