Women in STEM

Hey everyone! This week we talked about a subject that I am very passionate about: female representation in STEM fields. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and these fields are usually dominated by males. We also watched a video called CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap. Check out the trailer to this awesome documentary:

Here is a small infographic that illustrates those statistics:

We had a guest speaker come to our class and talk to us about the large under-representation of women in computer science as compared to information technology. It turns out that a few more women graduate from IT than from CS. We were exploring possible reasons as to why that might be, but no one really knows for sure. In light of this topic, I would like to share my own experiences with being a female and a minority in the STEM field. I started out my college career as engineering major but quickly realized it wasn't for me and switched to math. I liked math just fine, but often found myself in classrooms filled with all men, and maybe a handful of women, and hardly any hispanics (my ethnicity). I often felt out of place, and almost never felt comfortable enough to create study groups with my peers. After a while, I decided to switch to Computer Science, and it was the same old song and dance. I was one of a few women in all my classes, and again one of a few hispanics. In fact, in one of my classes of about 40 people, I was the only hispanic woman. This can often be discouraging because you don't have other people to relate to. I even had this situation in one of my CS labs where I was paired with a white male, and he never took my suggestions seriously. I would try and help with our code, and he would brush me off and ask his male friends for advice instead. I knew what I was doing, but he never believed I was capable of coding at his level. After all that, I decided to finally settle in Information Technology, and I am the happiest I have ever been with my major. I feel like I am being taken seriously, and I am still in the STEM field. I hope that one day, this feeling will change, but for now it is our reality. Here is an encouraging photo for STEM women everywhere:

Be your own Rosie and pursue your dreams even if it means going against the odds. Have a great day everyone!