Brilliance is Female: International Day of Women in Science

“There is no limit to what we as women can accomplish” 

Michelle Obama

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated on February 11. This was implemented by UNESCO and UN-Women, in collaboration with institutions and civil society partners that aim to promote women and girls in science. This day presents a chance to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls.

Even though the STEMM fields—Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine, are commonly viewed as important to national economies, most nations, regardless of their degree of development have not yet achieved gender equality in STEMM.

Even though they make up 33.3% of all researchers, women only make up 12% of the members of national science academies, and they typically receive lesser research grants than their male counterparts.

Female researchers tend to have shorter, less well-paid careers. High-profile publications underrepresent their work, and female researchers are often passed over for promotions.

Women still make up only 28% of engineering graduates and 40% of graduates in computer science, despite a shortage of skills in most of the technological fields driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Only one in five professionals (22%) work in cutting-edge industries like artificial intelligence.

In addition to the important moral, ethical, and justice arguments in favor of diversity in STEMM, research indicates that the current lack of diversity in STEMM fields has an impact on productivity and innovation.

Diverse research teams are more likely to come up with new ideas and perspectives. Diversity adds to the collective intelligence of a research group, enhances creativity, and provides new contexts to understand the social aspects of the research.

In the STEMM workforce, men vastly outnumber women, and there is a shortage of specialists in some of these fields. But the workforce needs more STEMM specialists. There’s a national labor shortage of STEMM professionals that can’t be addressed if we don’t expand the participation of underrepresented groups.

Women in science are underrepresented, underpaid, and frequently unrecognized. According to a 2009 article from the Inter Press Service news agency, female scientists are disregarded by male-dominated selection committees for grants and appointments to research and development roles in government-funded institutions.

Many times, role models play a role in job decisions. For young female students, there aren't as many female role models in science, mathematics, and engineering. Furthermore, these role models are hardly discussed in our textbooks. 

The prevailing sexism in society pushes down women's aspirations for careers in science. Women are expected to balance their responsibilities at home and work, so taking a career break for personal reasons makes it very challenging for them to return to careers in science. Other patriarchal practices include the awarding of fellowships and grants, among others, and recruiting practices. A male-dominated workplace and gender insensitivity present additional difficulties for female scientists.

Before the great civilizations of early Greece and Rome, women were known to have practiced medicine in ancient Egypt

Things became difficult for women in the Middle Ages because they were barred from the universities founded in Europe in the late 11th century. During this period, convents provided havens where women could become considerable scholars. 

The Enlightenment, sometimes known as the Age of Reason, opened up new options for some women in the 18th century. Women actively fought for the right to the same education as men during the 19th century in both Europe and the United States, and some prominent pioneers succeeded despite the social barriers that stood in their way.

Women began to fight for equal rights in school and employment in the 1960s, while the women's movement in the 20th century was reaching its peak.

In the early 21st century in the United Kingdom and the United States, nearly 50 percent of medical degrees and doctorate degrees in the biomedical sciences were awarded to women.

However, it was still challenging for women to achieve the highest levels of scientific acknowledgment.

On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we want to celebrate the brilliance of women and bow down to the women who won over the world with their talent. We hope to see more women power in the world of science, and the world, in general.

While concepts and thoughts are great, until you see the live examples, it is hard to believe that women can make a great impact in science. So today, along with telling you all the great things women can do in science, we are going to present you some women who have made some great strides in science.

When we talk about women in science, one woman who always comes to mind is Marie Curie, who pioneered research on radioactivity and discovered polonium and radium. Curie was a physicist and chemist at a time when women were not even allowed to vote. She led the first research project ever on the impact of radiation treatment on tumours. She also headed the Curie Institute in Paris, France, which focused on cancer research and radiation therapy. Curie is the only woman to have won the Nobel Prize twice - in physics and chemistry.

Another woman who made a significant impact in science was Katherine Johnson, a Black mathematician and one of the first African American women to work as a NASA scientist. Johnson was responsible for calculating and analyzing the flight paths of NASA spacecraft. She is best known for making the calculations that allowed the first Americans to enter Earth's orbit and set foot on the moon. In fact, her work was so important, that a 2016 movie "Hidden Figures" was made on her life and work at NASA.

When you think of science, you probably don't think of archeology or anthropology, but those 2 are part of science and Holly Moyes, an anthropological archaeologist, is proving so. She studies the artifacts left by ancient Mayans in hopes of both preserving Mayan culture and discovering stories of those ancient people. In the past 20 years, Moyes has explored more than 100 caves in Belize, finding everything from tools to sacrificial remains to everyday pottery. Her belief is that discovering ancient people's decision making will allow us to understand the implications of their decisions and learn from it.

Have you ever thought about what a 3D map of the human brain could do for various fields? Despite the breakthroughs in neuroscience, since the dawn of the 20th century, there are still many aspects of the human brain that we still do not understand completely. To help understand the human brain better, Katrin Amunts is leading a team of researchers to construct a 3D map of the brain. This team has made the most detailed map of the brain ever, which should lead to unprecedented insights into the construction and organization of the human brain and how it drives our behaviour.

Finally, let's talk about Nina Tandon, CEO and cofounder of EpiBone, who is revolutionizing medicine. Her company is the first ever to use a patient's stem cells to grow a human bone that can be used to repair bone defects, like bone loss. These bones can be made to exact measurements to reflect the patient's body and as it comes from the patient's own stem cells, their body will accept the new bone naturally. Tandon has also been involved with constructing beating hearts using the same method. Tandon has won many accolades for her work, from becoming a TED senior fellow to being named as a 2015 Global Thinker by Foreign Policy magazine to being named Business Insider's "40 under 40: People to watch in 2015".

The above is just a small example of women making leaps and bounds in the field of science, a field that covers everything from neuroscience and medicine to anthropology and psychology. To all the young girls out there, who think science is a man's world, remember...you can do anything!

Women are often unrecognized and underpaid in these fields, but we, at Crazy Creatives, can only hope that as women continue to make discoveries and take their fields forward, they will receive the same, if not increased, recognition from the world at large.

NSKay | la_Reine | Yuvika_15

I don't think we will ever reach gender equality in any field and definitely not in pay but the closer we get to equality the better it is. 

Amazing hearing about the women in science. Girl power all the way!

I noticed in some areas of biomedical and science fields there are more females than males working on the industry. I work for NHS in London and in my hospital there's about 90% females and 10% males. In Nursing theres more females.  

Agreed with Yuvika (above post) we won't see a equality in gender in any field.

There's always a area that has more male than female or vice versa.

- Prii

Happy International Day of Women in Science!

Wonderful initiative and wonderful thread <3

Hoping to see more women getting drawn into science, simply because the secrets of nature are so beautiful (and women love secrets 😌 )

https://feminisminindia.com/2021/11/05/holding-space-as-a-lesbian-trans-woman-in-stem-dr-a-mani-recalls-her-experiences/

This is a very nice and decent post ... You rocked posting it ... Thanks for posting it...!!

Where has this thread been??? 

Amazing writeup and women surely rock the world! 🤗⭐️