The Science Gender Divide
NEIRAD enilno edition
In a male-dominated profession such as science, the abilities of women are often disregarded. Although many women do not feel as if they are at an intellectual disadvantage, their skills are often downplayed by colleagues who have more respect for men.
As one of two women in her Cellular and Developmental Biology graduate program, biology teacher Susan Ruegger, was motivated to gain respect in an atmosphere where the women were often asked to be a “gofers” for the senior professors rather than collaborators in research.
“In order to navigate in a male-dominated environment I felt it was important to keep in mind that I would be afforded respect from my professors and peers if I was successful in my work. Consequently, I worked very hard and tried to engage my mentor and others in the department when I encountered problems,” Mrs. Ruegger said.
As a junior in college, Mrs. Ruegger noticed the disrespect women encounter in the career of science. Her female professor Dr. Speese was inappropriately addressed as “Miss Speese” instead of her professional title with a doctorial degree.
Although calling a female professor “Miss Speese” would not be permitted today, women still encounter prejudice from men such as Dr. Larry Summers, the former president at Harvard University.
In January of 2005, Dr. Summers sparked controversy when he overlooked the abilities of women at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His speech was based on the principles that women do not have the same ''innate ability" or ''natural ability" as men in some fields such as science.
"In the special case of science and engineering, there are issues of intrinsic aptitude, and particularly of the variability of aptitude, and those considerations are reinforced by what are, in fact, lesser factors involving socialization and continuing discrimination." Dr. Summers said.
Mrs. Ruegger has noticed that women process information differently from men and solve problems with a unique approach. In the field of research, discovering the multiple facets of an issue can lead to a more complete understanding of the problem. Once the issue is evaluated, it can be solved with a new and innovative method.
“Both girls and boys have been successful in my class. There are differences in how they approach their studies. Girls tend to be reserved in providing answers to problems until they have intellectually examined all possibilities. Boys tend to offer solutions off the top of their head and then refine them as they get comments from their peers. Both approaches lead to success.” Mrs. Ruegger said.
Chemistry teacher Art Ruggieri does not believe that Dr. Summer’s statement mirrors his experience teaching upper level chemistry. Instead he often finds the girls to be more goal oriented and highly motivated. He has noticed that there are an equal number of successful male students to female students.
“I don't believe that the males have an innate ability for doing science and that females don't. I believe a large amount of this discrepancy is social and environmental. Some of my best chemistry students have been female.” Mr. Ruggieri said.
As a teacher of biology, marine science, and neuroscience, Athena Tsaparakis believes that it is innate ability, intrinsic motivation, and the passion for learning that drives students to success.
“I find that all of my classes have a well balanced male to female ratio. I have not noticed a significant difference in the achievements of neither males nor females in any of the classes that I teach. What I have noticed, however, is an innate motivation to learn and be successful. I do believe that there is a slight increase in the college population of females majoring in science.” Ms.Tsaparakis said.
At the University of Connecticut, where Ms. Tsaparakis majored in biology, she never felt as if she were at a disadvantage to men. It was “some sort of spark for learning” that motivated her to excel.
Sean Otterspoor finds that females tend to obtain higher grades then the males in his freshman biology class. The bottom 10% of scorers on his tests are mostly male students.
“This is as much a function of the boys not figuring out how to split their time between sports and videogames as it is a problem caused by their brains being addled by the hormone increase— puberty causes a hormone boost up to 25 times over normal between ages nine and 15... I don’t buy into the idea the genders are so fundamentally different that males or females are just more capable at a particular task,” Mr. Otterspoor said.
Junior Alex Rodnuez believes that both genders have the same capacity to achieve, but that males mature at a different time than females. “In elementary and middle school, the girls do much better because they actually try. The boys get more mature in high school and it evens out. They finally start to try harder,” Rodnuez said.
Sophomore Kathryn Payne thinks that girls are usually able to obtain higher grades than boys in high school because they put more effort into their studies. “I’ve just noticed that girls always study more than the guys in my classes, and they get better grades most of the time,” Payne said.
A person’s intelligence is unrelated to their gender, DHS teachers say. Although women face opposition in the field of science, they have the capability to be successful.
