*new 30Nov14* Taking action to prevent domestic violence: How to be an engaged bystander:
http://nomore.org/take-action/preventviolence/
Feminism & rape culture & domestic violence:
It is never morally acceptable to have sex with another who cannot or will not consent. Feminism tries to protect women from rape & sexual assault like these horrible stories illustrated in this most recent Rolling Stone magazine:
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119?page=7
Q: What is feminism? How does it relate to our class?
How U. of San Diego Added 8 Female STEM Professors - The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://m.chronicle.com/article/How-U-of-San-Diego-Added-8/150051/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Q: Should we be concerned with the number of female scientists? Why or why not?
Q: are men better than women?
Q: is motherhood the highest calling for a woman? (Is fatherhood the highest calling for a man?
Q: are feminists against motherhood?
What does the current president of Turkey say?
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/turkeys-president-says-women-equal-men/
In response to the article, I feel like we should be concerned with the number of female scientists. I think there should be more added to staffs like the 8 that were added in the article. Woman are smart enough to hold the reign of a scientists and should be treated as so if they have the credentials. There is no need for them to not be able to feel comfortable about working in certain areas. There was another article posted on the blog about how some women on a science team were nervous to work due to their male co-workers scaring them off with sexually and intimidating threats. This is an issue that we need to pay closer attention to and try to handle the problem better than we have in the past.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Josh. It seems silly that there should be such small numbers of female scientists. There is no doubt that a female can bring in just as much knowledge as her male counterpart. It is frustrating that females may be limited in the field because they have to watch their backs when working in certain areas. I see this as holding back science in a way. We are limited in a male point of view based on the slim numbers of female scientists.
DeleteI agree fully on you on both your statements. I think it is just absurd that we don't have enough female scientist in the world today
DeleteIt is true that women should not have to be afraid in the workplace but I just hope with programs such as this one that competition levels are not lowered and that people are not hired who are unqualified compared to someone else just based on the fact of their gender. Just as it would be unfair for a male to be hired over a female because of their gender it is the same in reverse.
DeleteI agree with Josh here. We should in fact be concerned with the number of female scientists. There needs to be more female scientists in the workplace. Female scientists have just as much to offer if not more. Females are sometimes limited because they have that stereotype that they are not as smart as men but that is completely false. In my opinion, women are just as smart as men if not smarter.
DeleteFeminism is the idea or fight for women rights and advocacy. It is the fight for women to be equal in men in terms of political, social, and economic grounds.
ReplyDeleteI honestly loved this article. I think what the University of San Diego did is wonderful. The world needs more females in STEM. In order for this to happen, they need female STEM professors to engage and encourage more women to enter STEM related fields.
I think we should be concerned with the number of female scientists. Women are really behind in STEM related fields. The marginalization of women in STEM faculty positions, particularly in respect to disparities in salary, laboratory space, resources, responses to job offers, and awards--despite comparability with male colleagues in terms of professional qualification accomplishments--is a clear manifestation of this point. Women to this day are still highly underrepresented and not valued as highly as men. Women earn only about one fifth of doctorates in computer science, engineering, and physics. Women receive, for example, only 18% of undergraduate engineering degrees and 12% of doctoral engineering degrees, due in large part to the hostile environment many face in these fields. One reason this is occurring is because of the stereotype society holds about women and men. The other reason is because schools are eliminating affirmative action programs responsible for increasing access to higher education for minorities and women. So yes, we should be concerned. We need more females in STEM. We need more female scientists in general. Women are just are smart as males and deserve the right to as Josh said, hold such credentials.
Feminism is a movement geared towards defending equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women, which includes equal opportunities for women in education and employment (such as STEM professors). I think it is beyond surprising to think that women being hired as scientists is still an issue. Women should be viewed equally to men, having the same impact on science and the process of discovery.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to class, we discussed the values of science and its regards to feminism. In this article it declared, "one element of the theoretical network that they are unwilling to surrender in the face of recalcitrant evidence is the assumption that there must be predominantly biological reasons for inferior intellectual achievement in women." With these views, no wonder women aren't taken into consideration when hiring a new scientist, for they are "inferior". Another quote states, ""masculine" cognitive stance is required of all working scientists: one that emphasizes autonomy, separation, and distance between subject and object...the banishment of "sympathetic understanding."" Where I would take this as the banishment of motherly instinct, found in women. In which it is being said that in order to even be a successful scientist you must at least think like a man. These assumptions all seem so ridiculous to me. A woman can be as successful as a man, if they have the same credentials and education.
I think that you make a good point about how women are often viewed as inferior to their male counterparts due to outdated notions of gender roles and capabilities. Like we discussed in class, men are seen as rational beings in our society where as women are viewed as impulsive/irrational/emotional. Since science is supposed to be rational, men have a supposed predisposition towards science that women lack. This is rather flawed logic as women have proven time and time again to be more than capable of working in the scientific field. You cannot label all women as "emotional," just as you cannot label all men as "rational." The sooner that society stops ascribing gender roles to its members, the sooner true equality can be achieved in the scientific community.
DeleteYour comment about all men being viewed as "rational" while women are viewed as "emotional" is so relevant and true in many cases beyond science. It is unfair for women to be viewed as irrational or inferior due to their emotional and sympathetic nature. The sooner woman and men are viewed equally the sooner the cooperation and increase in scientific discovery.
DeleteIt is true that women are looked at as inferior sometimes and not cut out for much more than house work but I also believe the thought of pregnancy comes into play when hiring a young female. Because most females will become pregnant in their lifetimes I feel like this is put into perspective while hiring since they will have to take off work which may become a problem in a demanding field.
DeleteAfter reading this article, my first response was thinking that it is crazy that we don't have enough female scientist. Women are more than capable of being scientist, in some cases, they might make better scientist than men. As Josh said "women are more than capable of taking and holding the reins of science."
ReplyDeleteTo the point where women are feeling uncomfortable with working with men, because they are afraid of sexual assault. I think that is horrifying, because men and women should be able to work together to find truth. One shouldn't be scared of the other, it's a team. In some parts of science i think that is forgotten today.
I feel like the initiative to hire more female STEM professors is critical to the education of future generations of scientists and I applaud the University of San Diego on their efforts to help diversify their STEM faculty. It seems rather ridiculous to me that the teaching staff of an institution of higher learning wouldn't accurately reflect the student population. I don't know what the statistics are for other schools, but the first article states that approximately 60 percent of majors in the STEM disciplines at the University of San Diego are women. This is a staggering figure. This discrepancy in the number of women professors (with respect to the large female student population) should continue to be addressed at colleges everywhere.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, women STEM professors are beneficial in that they can advise their young female students about the struggles of women in the STEM community. They can impart wisdom on how to navigate the male-dominated STEM fields, helping prepare their students for the future. This strong role model/mentor might be just what some of these students need to get ahead in life and succeed.
To go beyond the college level, I think it is crucial to initiate STEM programs for children of younger ages. It is of great importance that young girls know right away that they are as capable as the boys. For example, my sister and brother are both in middle school and are both involved in a program called STEM. In this specific program and at this age there is not great difference in numbers between boys and girls, but as they get older the number of girls decreases. Women STEM teachers and professors need to become more aware of this issue and help to encourage young girls to further their goals in science and math, knowing that they are just as important and crucial to science as boys.
ReplyDelete>Feminism is the act of standing up for the rights of women and it relates to our class because it is an issue in multiple fields of science since it is not the norm for women to have these jobs which have been dominated by men.
ReplyDelete>Men are not better than women, but it is a fact that in some cases men have an advantage just as women do in other areas.
>In a section of the bible it is said that for a women's sins to be forgiven she must bear a child therefore to some people motherhood may be the highest calling for women but I do not believe that it is a necessity for a women to have a child especially when they can not afford to do so. Fatherhood is also not the highest calling for a man.
Feminism consists of ideas and beliefs about what culture is like for women just because they are women, compared to what the world is like for men just because they are men. In ethical terms, this form or aspect of feminism is descriptive. The assumption in feminism is that women are not treated equally to men, and that women are disadvantaged in comparison to men.
ReplyDeleteI think we should be concerned. There is a reason for why there is a lack of woman in that field. It isn't because they are not adequate to excel in the field to that means that it is most likely a social problem. Who knows where we would be in science if woman played a bigger role in science. So many more questions could possible be answered that we are missing out on. There needs to be more emphasis put on this because it is concerning.
ReplyDelete