Category: Uncategorized
Leadership 101 Gender Equity in STEM is so far my favorite course during my first year college. Firstly, from reading and analysing class materials articles and videos, I gained a lot of knowledge about this field that I never thought about before. For example, in the article WHY SO FEW, the statistics show us the unequal distribution of gender in the STEM field and the reasons why. In the movie PICTURE A SCIENTIST, it breaks my heart to see such terrifying things happening to Jane Wilenbring on her journey to Antarctica that she has to file a title ix towards that male professor. All these lessons I learn from this class help me to think: How can I be a leader when it comes to gender discrimination? How can I stand out for myself or others as a woman?
There are three terms we discussed in class that are most remarkable for me. The first one is microaggression, both intentional and unintentional insult to the target group/person. There was a video we watched during class, I couldn’t remember the name of the characters, so there’s one female student along with two male students and a male professor, three students are trying to ask the professor some questions, but the male professor just went to the bathroom while answering their questions, and two male students followed him. When they come out, he refuses to repeat the answer to the female student. I was very mad watching this video, Is it that urgent that you have to go to the bathroom when she just wanted to hear the answer? Maybe the professor wasn’t intentional, but this is really hurting people. The second term is imposter syndrome, feelings of severe inadequacy and self-doubt that can leave people fearing that they will be exposed as a “fraud”. The third one is stereotype threat, When people are aware of a negative stereotype about their group.
Besides learning these terms about gender equity, I also improved my public speaking and teamwork skill from doing our previous assignment– presentation on Self-Assessment by Gender. I learned how to provide audiences interesting visual aids, clear voice, eye contact, and meaningful messages. My teammates and I spent a lot of time outside of class practicing our presentation skills. I think this assignment is by far the most useful and critical one in terms of preparing for my future career. I used to be someone who is afraid of speaking in front of everyone due to language barriers–I went to the States when I was 15. Just like females in the STEM field, me as a child growing up in a non-English speaking country, I felt the same pressure as females in male-dominanted environment. But after taking the class, I think when it comes to equity, we didn’t have to choose between women or colored people, rather it should be everyone. And as the young generation of the world, I need to first stand out from myself, then for the people who need help, and that is what I see in the term “leadership”.
