Does Gender Matter Analysis

My ideal definition for gender is one that sets out not to rob us of the individual complexity we all possess for the sake of not agitating the social norms and status quos that dominate the mindset of our society. The Lorber reading has a compelling way of exemplifying this when she states, “…the norms and expectations get built into our sense of worth and identity as a certain kind of human being, and because they believe their society's way is the natural way." (Lorber 45) This quote brings up a certain dichotomy of debate within women and gender studies, one that was mentioned briefly in class, being how much of our perception of gender comes from an inherent sense of self and how much can be accounted for by social conditioning.

Today in society it can be agreed that women have indeed gained many rights that were not accessible to them 100 years before. Although, despite the mentality that men and women are treated equally there are still very many discrepancies between the treatment of genders. Many of which can be attributed to the expectations placed on the genders, gender roles between both genders, and women in the workplace. These issues have caused a great rift to form between the genders, a rift that has caused one gender to claim dominance over the other and this can develop a sense of inferiority by the submissive gender.

51 percent of the United States is female but only 34.4 percent of doctors are women. While 90.4 percent of nurses are female (“Women in Medicine”; “Male Nurses Becoming”), the women who do become doctors earn an astounding 25 percent less than their male counterparts (Groves). These staggering figures are only a single piece in the larger overall lack of women in STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which has remained prevalent since the beginning of these fields. Although women are underrepresented in these STEM fields, this is not due to ineptitude, but instead it is a result of the force of societal stereotypes coupled with their wider range of abilities. The recent increase in women’s association with STEM seems

In a speech in February 2013 President Barak Obama said, “One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent…not being encouraged the way they need to.” It been three years since President Obama has made that statement and the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and math as known as STEM majors is still a big problem today. The STEM workforce is crucial to Americas global competitiveness and groundbreaking capability. The people who work in the STEM field make up nearly half of the United

The stated prerogative is to introduce slow yet lasting change and to integrate more women and people of color within the STEM field; however, the plan for change, and the reason for its perceived need to be slow is nowhere addressed; , suggesting that it is rather the reluctance of men to relinquish control and allow feminization of the field (Tepperman and Curtis, 2012). Reports of these initiatives claim to be struggling struggle in attracting and keeping women within the STEM field. Yet by shifting the blame on women, the inaction taken by scientific institutions to reform the patriarchal ideals dominating the scientific realm is justified (Tepperman and Curtis, 2012). In addition, the economic paradigm that western society is built around is one that necessitates inequality to function. The Neoliberal welfare is instrumental in constructing gender

In the study presented by Wang, Eccles, and Kenny (2013), they indicated that prior researchers (Ceci, Williams, & Barnett, 2009; Eccles, 2009; Eccles, Barber, & Jozefowicz, 1999; Ferriman, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009) provided an alternative explanation of the gender gap in STEM fields. They indicated that this is related to females not being interested in STEM fields, life choices, and mathematical aptitude. Their findings indicated that math aptitude is not the decisive reason for the underrepresentation of females in STEM

Men are the people who have the most rank in technical skills. There has not been any growth in jobs in STEM since 2000 for women. It has been said that the pattern may begin in early education. Females may not be encouraged to study math and science as much as males are encouraged to do so. Very few of females who earn bachelor’s degree do so in the area of STEM. However, slightly over half of bachelor’s degrees are earned by women. Many people believe that females lack the intelligence to be successful in STEM. Others believe women do better in skills such as education, and humanitarian roles such as doctor’s an lawyers. Sometimes women themselves believe that men have what it takes to be successful in STEM. Sometimes females have “self-esteem”

Ever since the study of mathematics and science has begun, women have been underrepresented in the STEM field. The STEM field is made up of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. There have been a lot of efforts to increase the number of women in STEM careers; however, men remain dominant in the field. For example, in 2015 women filled 47% of all U.S. jobs, but held only 24% of the STEM careers (Women in STEM, par. 3). Meaning that in 2015 men held 76% of all the STEM careers. The gap between men and women in STEM continues to widen and men continue to dominate the STEM field because the societal stereotype steers women away from STEM careers

The goal of any good psychology class is to leave students with a better understanding of themselves and others. Psychology of gender is a special topic to most because it is a class based entirely on how we as living social creatures operate, elude ourselves to others, and it delves deep into the underling themes of why and how people naturally form and judge other’s identities. A judgement that is often harsh when people go out of the heteronormative scope of our western society that often leaves negative marks on how someone is able to operate freely within their gender (Purdie-Vaughns & Elbach 2008). One major take home point from a class such as this is that gender cannot be looked at on a sexual binary scale because gender is a lucid

The stereotypes of women in today’s society shape how women think when making their career decisions. It is not uncommon to say that, typically, engineering in today’s soceity is associated with the male persona due to the historical tradition of the male domination of the field (Orr). Engineering is perceived as a male occupation. This faction of stereotypes takes much root in the twentieth century, for the United States at least. A group of engineers concluded that these stereotypes formed when the “discouragement of girls from mathematics and science classes in American high schools was the rule…reinforcing the popular belief that girls cannot do and are not interested in science” (Senger). Due to this notion, women have most normally been viewed as relating to the arts more so than the sciences (Jones). With women being more associated with the arts rather than the sciences, girls tend to feel as if they are stepping outside of some kind of comfort zone when branching out into the mathematic or science classes while in school. This comfort zone is created by the stereotype that girls should leave the sciences up to the boys because they will not be any good at those subjects and therefore, they rule those career options and interests out (Jones). So, for the girls that do branch out, they have a fear of not doing as well in those subjects and confirming the

“When cultural beliefs about male superiority exist in any area, even a fictitious one, girls assess their abilities in that area lower, judge themselves by a higher standard, and express less of a desire to pursue a career in that area than boys do” (44). Societal messages impede our self-assessment, and along with stereotypes can cause women to not follow a career in STEM. The internalized belief that many women hold about STEM can determine the path that they take academically. This reading has allowed me to evaluate my own choices and considerations for leaving a math/science major in college. Though I don’t think I ever felt less capable, I lost interest in science, and my performance slowed down exponentially is math. I began to self-sabotage my grades to convince my family that I did not belong in STEM. Through this reading, I have recognized the doubt I had in myself, and my future. I’ve tried to convince myself that leaving that major was my choice, but I left because I doubted my success, and I was not happy. My self-assessment of my intelligence and performance led me to choose a different career path. I actively denied these stereotypes and cultural beliefs about women in STEM, because I was successful and so were my sisters in this field. I ignored the instances where I was treated as less, and almost accepted it as normal. I now understand the importance of

417) which shows that males still perform better than females on both mathematics and science tests. So, there are fewer females with standardized test scores high enough to meet entrance requirements of engineering and technology programs, which are often rigorous. Not only do fewer women enter into these fields in the first place, but universities have noticed that retention of women is lower than retention of men in these fields. Amanda Griffith, in the Economics of Education Review, stated that “[women and minorities] are less likely to pick a STEM major initially, and if they do, less likely to remain in that major” (911). Although both genders struggle in STEM fields, statistics show that females have greater problems – only 37% of women who declare a STEM major upon entering college actually earn one while 43% of men do. In addition, fewer women than men switch into a STEM major from another department – only 10% of women and 15% of men had done so by the spring of their sophomore year (Griffith 915).So, there are two problems plaguing the representation of women in these fields – they are less likely to show an interest in these fields to begin with and are more likely to drop out of a STEM major if they do.

The first problem that we have focused on is the “stereotype threat”. The stereotype threat is defined as “A large body of experimental research has found the negative stereotype to affect women’s and girl’s performance and aspirations in math and science” (Why so Few? p.38). What this does to women and girls is that they believe to perform at a lower performance than boys. They consider that men and boys are superior in math and science and therefore they avoid pursuing in these fields. They rather avoid liking or expressing any interest in the STEM programs so that they are not

There is mounting evidence of a gender gap in STEM fields in the United States. In a recent study looking at the gender distribution of college graduates receiving STEM related degrees, it was found that 19% of STEM related bachelor’s degrees are awarded to women, with only 3% awarded to minority women. Furthermore, males are six times more likey to take engineering courses than women. However, this gender gap cannot only be associated with recent graduating classes. Historically, fewer women have chosen to pursue careers in STEM related fields. Though women make up 47% of the workforce, they make up 25% of the science and computer science workforce, and just 13% of the engineering workforce.

Gender is important to Western society, and fittingly, it is deeply woven into the infrastructure of the United States. Whether it comes from the media, school, work, or church, people are fed innumerable amounts of messages everyday instructing them how he or she should look and behave based on their sex, and there is no escaping it. While these gender values have been challenged more frequently and intensely in recent years, one, growing up in a culture that places so much important on gender performance (based on sex), cannot help but be exposed and influenced by it to some degree. At this point, it is crucial to differentiate between the words “sex” and “gender,” which tend to be used interchangeably, an issue that leads to much