Part 1: Theories and Concepts of STS
8 Gender and STS
Brooke Alysse Norman; Emily Jarvis; Katie Bernstein; Maraya Garcia; and Maurice Ceasar
Definition
Gender, from a binary or non-binary perspective, has a major impact on how people are perceived in society, especially in the workforce. Gender roles and stereotypes play an important role in the overall definition of gender. Planned parenthood defines gender roles as, “how we’re expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct ourselves based upon our assigned sex”. Gender stereotypes reinforce this idea of a gender role by enforcing characteristics onto them. This can be displayed in a variety of ways, including hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity.
The impact that gender roles and stereotypes have had on technology is difficult to quantify. Women, gender, and technology found that while there is a large increase in women’s studies as well as an increase in technology, there is not an overlap between the two. This begs the question of why women aren’t going into technology if both fields are growing. According to a study discussed in “The Gender Gap in STEM Fields”, more women tend to view STEM related careers as much more masculine than men view them. This has impacted the desire to enter careers in STEM by making them much more appealing to men than women. This has led to the large discrepancy between male and female representation when it comes to science, technology, and society.
Gender also plays a big part in how work in science and technology is portrayed by the public. An article published by Fortune.com states that, of all the technology based jobs, only 25% of them are held by females. Despite the much smaller percentage of women in those jobs, the quitting rate for the women is 41% higher than that of men in technology based jobs. Myths surrounding the “limitations” that come with gender are a big reason for the discrepancies are seen today. While there is still a gap and an ongoing debate between the genders, progress is being made. Gender is a fluid topic that can be described as such, the transgender spectrum is enormous, identity being a limiting factor for progress in education and work is logically flawed and without functional merit. It’s undeniable that in the modern day…
Challenges
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-015-9355-x
According to Springer Link, there are six different possible reasons that could lead to the gender gap in STEM fields: “(1) cognitive ability, (2) relative cognitive strengths, (3) career preferences, (4) lifestyle values, (5) field-specific ability beliefs, and (6) gender-related stereotypes and biases” (Wang).
- Cognitive Ability Level: Research demonstrates that while females tend to get better grades in math, males outscore females on standardized tests.
- Relative Cognitive Strengths: Women tend to have more balanced math and verbal abilities than men. So most “math-talented women are more likely to choose challenging non-STEM fields