Women and science

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Another woman in science here. I am studying paleontology at university. My subjects this semester are Maths, Biology, Genetics, Geology (sedimentary layers), Statistics.

Women are socialized differently than men. This does not mean women do not have the capacity to be successful scientists, physicists, engineers, etc. Girls are brought up to care more about the feelings of others along with socializing etc. Boys are more likely to be encouraged by family and friends to do "boy stuff" (i.e. play with robots, learn math and science, etc.) There were actually studies done showing that at a young age, girls do much better at mathematics than boys. As the girls get older, (hormones kick in, societal pressures kick in, eating disorders and body image pressure and all that fun stuff girls get to worry about) they tend to do worse and worse in these fields. Other studies show that females taking math and science tests in the mere presence of males will subconsciously encourage them to perform worse on the tasks at hand (girls are raised to believe men do not like smart women).

There are many variables at hand.

(Loosely paraphrasing a past Sociology professor on data and studies that can probably be found with a quick Google search. But I don't feel like digging them up). The numbers in the studies don't lie. Those are the conclusions social scientists came to based on the data presented.

Women have the ability to do as well in science as men, it's just that society conditions men to win while condition women to admire these oh-so-brilliant men.

I don't know about anyone else, but at my high school there was a lot of hostility toward girls who were good at math and science. Not from the boys, from the other girls!

One incident I remember, a girl I thought i was friends with was going around the caffeteria asking if anybody could help her with her biology homework. I made the mistake of asking what the assignment was. She lit into me! She started screaming about how dare I insult her like that, how she hated my very existance, how if I so much as looked at her again she was going to break every bone in my body and then sue me for harrassment. All this in front of a hundred witnesses.

I later figured out that she had no interest in getting help with her homework, what she wanted was for some guy to put his arm around her shoulder while he did the assignment for her.


(sorry about any typos, my cat is helping me type)

The last few women I interviewed for an entry-level engineer's position could not pass a simple exam involving nothing more difficult than Ohm's Law, reactance, parallel values, and standing-wave ratios. Each of the same number of men solved each equation correctly.

If you have an electrical engineering degree, then you should know these things, and not rely on tears and cleavage to get you by.

I have met genuine female electrical engineers who know their sh*t. By the way, the famous film actress and beauty Hedy Lamar was an electronics genius who invented a frequency skipping device that enabled telephone and radio communications remain secret.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr

ruveyn

Yep! And Admiral "Amazing" Grace Hopper was not only one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, she developed the first compiler for a computer programming language, and coined the term "bug" for any error in the system!

My sister is also an engineer.

It just seems that around here (SouCal), the women seem more inclined to either bluff their way through EE classes or chose a liberal-arts major instead. At least, if there are any who graduate as an EE on their own merit, they're not knocking on our doors...

Interesting read. I was trying to explain to someone a couple years ago, while discussing differences in AI versus human inputs and outputs, that it would be possible for future AI communications to include constantly rotating ciphers and language databases that could so easily make trying to decode a potential secret AI language practically impossible without direct access to the programming used. (Think of the enigma machine gone wild!) I wonder if I could have used this frequency hopping and piano roll description to better explain it. Then again, I didn't think I was making too much of a complicated description in the first place.

At MIT the female engineers know their stuff and don't shave their legs.

ruveyn

The last intelligent face-to-face conversation I had with any woman other than my wife was with the psychologist who diagnosed me.

You don't get out and around enough.

ruveyn

I'm married! Nuff said?

So am I. That does not preclude having intelligent conversations with women other than one's spouse, sister or daughter.

ruveyn

Lol, I'm not surprised to see that you are in a position of power.

It's not what you are saying, it is the way you are saying it. Seriously, tears? I can't even tell if you are being serious or not but if you are, have a heart for god's sake. Don't hire them obviously if they're not qualified, but seriously, have a heart. Not every woman who breaks down in tears or who is wearing something slightly revealing is trying to manipulate you.

Tears. Seriously. One started crying because, as she said, "I thought I was done with math!" Another teared up because, as she put it, "I should know this stuff!" Both had supposedly earned their BSEEs through study and hard work. Neither of them passed the screening test.


Exactly. If they ace the test, they make it to the final screening. Even a high score means that they are under consideration; if not for the currently available position, then maybe another one later on.


Equal Employment Opportunity essentially comes down to whether or not the candidates understand what is expected of them, the depth and breadth of their knowledge, and their ability and willingness to do the job. We're not in business to provide jobs to every person who needs one. We're in business to make profit in the most economical, effective, and efficient means possible, and our staffing must reflect this. "Having a Heart" usually means that the women from HR deal with the woman candidates' tears and sniffles while us guys quietly leave the room.


Not every one ... but it happens. One in particular comes to mind - even the women from HR scolded her on the way she was dressed. I won't go into details, but she was dressed inappropriately for an air-conditioned room, and even less appropriately for a job interview.

I mean, if these women were more prepared to demonstrate their fashion sense than their knowledge of basic engineering principles, then how did they expect to keep an engineering job if they got one? By their looks?

Okay ... I'm married, and I live in California - Southern California. Silicon Valley and Stanford are a few hundred miles north of here, while Hollywood is an hour's drive away and Disneyland is just down the road.

Even the Amateur Radio Operators around here are more interested in the latest box scores than in any advances in technology!