Today’s
guest blogger is Daryl Haggard, who has also been guest editing for the
AASWOMEN Newsletter. Daryl is a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for
Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at
Northwestern University. She studies AGN and their host galaxies, accreting
compact binaries, and accretion-driven outflows using multi-wavelength and time
domain surveys.
"Science:
It's a Girl Thing" (Just Add Lipstick)
The
European Commission on Research and Innovation released an incendiary video
this week:
It
was intended to attract young women (teens and pre-teens) to the sciences.
Instead it elicited backlash across nations -- the video has subsequently been
removed from the EU's "Science: It's a Girl Thing" webpage:
The
other videos on this website, of real female scientists, are wonderful and
paint an honest and realistic picture of what we "look" like and what
we do. (Click on the "Watch women in science" link and you'll get a
new video narrative each time; or on the "Profiles of women in
science" link in the bottom menu.)
At
the moment, I am attending a meeting at the Aspen Center for Physics and I
couldn't resist showing this video to colleagues at our weekly BBQ. It elicited
something between amusement and disbelief. If shown the video with no context,
one scientist said she never would have guessed it had anything to do with
encouraging participation in STEM. Another commented that the ad "May be
more successful at attracting teenage boys into science".
While
research studies (together with anecdotal evidence) have shown that young
women, junior high school age and younger, are actively interested in science,
this STEM curiosity declines as girls head to high school and college. The EU
Commission is targeting the right demographic, but are blinking lights, high
heels, and pink lipstick the best ways to attract and retain these young women
in the sciences?
Clearly
we old folks think no. More than 15 years ago I gave a lecture to college
students in China about similarities between the corset and high heels; women
can't walk properly (or breath) with either, let alone carry anything heavy,
e.g., a microscope or a child. Yet if this video captures our careers,
stilettos and an up-do are all we need to succeed (and/or to achieve
representation of women in STEM). I appreciate a broad range of scientists,
including and especially those who embrace femininity, intelligence, and the
creativity that is science, not to mention the color pink. These women are not,
however, dressed for date-night (or the runway) when they arrive in the morning
for work.
The
EU's official website is pretty spot-on, despite the cheeky lipstick motif.
Insofar as the defunct, but nonetheless viral video incites young women to
visit the website, maybe it will have succeeded?
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