Why I love SMBC

From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:

Cool Story Babe. Now make me a sandwich.

Will the "woman in the kitchen" jokes ever get old?

I had the misfortune to view this t-shirt multiple times while on vacation a few weeks ago.  I saw it in several shops on a boardwalk in New Jersey, as well as in a mall in Staten Island.  I was pretty disgusted by it the first time I saw it, and it only got worse as I saw it being sold in multiple shops, and then on a boy who must have been about 12.  My sister told me she saw a woman wearing it.

The fact that people are still amused by t-shirts like this is seriously unfortunate.  Not only does it reinforce the age-old stereotype of a woman’s place being in the kitchen, it also promotes dismissing women rather than giving them the respect they deserve.  And the fact that I witnessed it being worn by such a young boy makes it even worse; I hate to think that some kids grow up thinking a shirt that promotes sexism is “cool” (and that parents would be okay with their child wearing it…).  It was also pretty disturbing that a woman was wearing it – it’s so frustrating when some women dismiss overt sexism as a joke.  I suppose one could argue that the message could also be directed toward a male, but given that men are never told to “get back in the kitchen”, I’d say with great certainty that the “babe” being addressed is intended to be a woman.

What do you think of the shirt? Insanely sexist or a harmless joke?

Happy (belated) Women’s Equality Day!

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of Women’s Equality Day.  Women’s Equality Day began in 1971, and August 26th was chosen as the day to commemorate the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.  Women have come a long way since 1920 (when the 19th Amendment was passed), but there is still work to be done!  For example, women still only make 79 cents for every dollar men make, and only 12 Fortune 500 companies are run by women.  There is also a significant gender gap that still exists in the sciences – women make up just 24% of employees in all STEM jobs.  I experience this gender gap in my physics classes – in high school, I was one of two girls in my AP Physics class of ~25 students, and in my college classes, there are typically only two girls in physics classes with 15 students.  This is not acceptable, and it’s something that needs to be addressed and remedied.  It’s important to stay informed about things that hinder women’s advancement in the sciences – such as unconscious bias, and lack of role models or mentors – so that we can work to ensure women achieve equality in the sciences.

U.S. Dept of Commerce: Women underrepresented in STEM, have been for last decade

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently released a report about the status of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) entitled “Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation”.  I read through the executive summary of the report, available for download here.  Here are some of their findings:

• Women comprise 48% of the U.S. workforce, but just 25% of STEM jobs.  This has been consistent throughout the last decade, even as more college-educated women have entered the workforce.
• From 2000 to 2009, the percentage of women in all STEM  jobs has not changed from 24%.  This can be broken down by field.  The percentage of women in computer science and math jobs has decreased from 30% to 27%, the percentage of women in engineering has increased from 13% to 14%, the percentage of women in physical/life science related jobs has increased from 36% to 40%, and the percentage of women STEM managers has increased from 23% to 25%.
• The gender wage gap for STEM jobs is 14%.  This means that women in STEM jobs earn 86 cents for every dollar a man in a STEM job makes.  This is less than the non-STEM job wage gap of 21%.
• Women in STEM fields earn 33% more on average than their female counterparts in non-STEM jobs.  For men, the difference is 25%.
• The gender wage gap for college-educated STEM workers is 12%.  Broken down by STEM field, the highest gender wage gap exists in computer science and math.  The lowest gender wage gap is for engineering jobs, at 7%.
• In 2009, there were 2.5 million college-educated working women with STEM degrees, compared to 6.7 million men.
• 57% of college-educated working women with a STEM degree have their bachelors degree in a physical/life science.  In comparison, 31% of college-educated working men with a STEM degree have their bachelors degree in a physical/life science.  The bulk of men with STEM majors choose engineering degrees.
• 40% of men with STEM degrees work in STEM jobs. 26% of women with STEM degrees work in STEM jobs.

To conclude, the report finds that women are “underrepresented both in STEM jobs and STEM undergraduate degrees, and have been consistently over the last decade.“  Women who receive STEM degrees are actually less likely to work in STEM than men who receive STEM degrees.  While the gender wage gap is smaller in STEM fields than for other fields, it is still a significant gap.  The report doesn’t attempt to explain why gender differences in STEM exist.