A timely and interesting article entitled “Greater equality in science will take more than Ada Lovelace Day” was published yesterday on NewScientist.com. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2108733-greater-equality-in-science-will-take-more-than-ada-lovelace-day/
(Unfortunately, the site requires you to sign up for their online article delivery service in order to read it… 🙁 )
The general gist of the article is that, to get and retain women in STEM, there has to be more than figurehead examples — more than just seeing a female scientist at events and such. According to the article, a study conducted by faculty at Florida International University found that “having a woman physics teacher, reading about women in physics, and having a female guest speaker had no effect on [high school girls’] intention to enter the field.” (I found that quite surprising, frankly!) The study suggested “one intervention that did help encourage high-school girls to pursue science [is] getting them to discuss the real reasons why there aren’t as many of them in the first place.” The article ends by stating: “role models alone cannot fix the problem.”
What do you think about these sentiments and findings, @michelle-barboza, @jbauer, @tmorgan, @taorminalepore, @llundgren, @jessie-matheny, @joyce-drakeford, @catalina-pimiento ?