Tumblr, I’d like you to meet the Science Cheerleaders. They are all current and former professional cheerleaders — all of which are also science professionals or enthusiasts. They want to encourage young girls to pursue math and science by sending the message that a traditionally feminine pursuit can go hand in hand with hard math. There are some smart cookies on this pom squad. Here’s a little more info.
Today in things we like.
Y’all already know we love her. Well we talked to her some more.
The best bits:
How do you think discrimination affects women psychologically?I remember one of my freshman science classes. I would ask a question, and the professor would look at me like it was the dumbest question he’d ever heard, and then move on. Then a white guy down the row would ask the same question and [the professor would say,] “Astute observation.” It makes you start to really question yourself. You start to think, “Am I stupid?” After hitting the wall so many times, it makes a difference in terms of your zest and your zeal.
What would you say to those who attribute the lack of women in stem fields to innate differences in aptitude?
Society’s expectation of women truncates their ability, but it also truncates our ability to hear them. You have to understand that intelligence tests, when they were first made and developed, were adjusted in order to conform to ideas of who was thought to be smart. There was an adjustment of the SATs so that boys would score better in English. Some of this is specious. Some of this is because people want to make it so.Why do these stereotypes persist?
Sciences are still sort of steeped in mysticism—a lot of us aren’t comfortable with them. And I think in a lot of instances we don’t think it makes any difference who does the science—but it does.Why?
[Scientists] get to choose the problem, interpret the data, and draw the conclusions. It’s not just about filling the pipeline with some folks. It’s the diversity of experience, thought, perspective that can make solutions much more robust.
What’s it going to take?
That question came up with some white, male tenured professors. They said, “Make the tenured guys responsible for increasing the pool. Make their funding contingent upon [it].” Right now, usually that [job] is [the responsibility of] the minorities or the women themselves. But these guys said, “You want it done? Make them responsible. [Because] right now they don’t have any skin in the game.”
-Jesse
Three news stories of interest today—and stay tuned for highlights from last night’s “Young Women and Feminism” panel at the 92nd Street Y.
* Timothy Egan rips Nike a new asshole for standing by alleged serial-rapist Ben Roethlisberger in today’s New York Times. “Is there anything creepier than a big, beer-breathed celebrity athlete exposing himself in a night club and hitting on underage girls, all the while protected by an entourage of off-duty cops?” Egan writes. “Well, yes. It’s the big, corporate sponsor — Nike, in this case — that continues trying to sell product with the creep as their role model.”
* According to new Census data, women—already graduating from college in higher numbers than men—are now just as likely to have earned advanced degrees. “It won’t be long before women dominate higher education and every degree level up to Ph.D.,” said economist Mark Perry. (Of course, the data shows women lag behind significantly in fields like engineering and science.)
* In a meeting this week with top Senate members, Obama said his pick for justice of the Supreme Court must honor ‘women’s rights.’
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