Having a fair number of women in professional fields tends to increase success and productivity in those fields. However, there are still factors that block women from entering and staying in certain fields. Most stem from a belief that females are inferior or should only hold certain roles, and both men and women propagate that belief. I will list three problems and how they relate to this incorrect belief.
The first problem is the culture of domestic violence. Many people live in cultures that support the idea of women being submissive to their husbands and that a man beating his wife in some instances is acceptable. This belief is held not only by men, but by women as well. An NPR article reporting data from a world values survey states that, “in 29 countries around the world, one-third or more of men say it can be acceptable for a husband to ‘beat his wife.’ Perhaps more surprising: In 19 countries, one-third or more of women agree that a husband who beats his wife may be justified, at least some of the time”. It is difficult for a woman to develop self-confidence and self-respect, and garner respect from others if she lives in a society where beating women for disobedience is viewed as acceptable. As the next paragraph will show, a lack of confidence negatively affects women’s success and choices in school as well as in the wok force.
There is currently a drive to attract more women to participate in STEM fields. While gains have been made toward this goal, there are cultural views that slow progress. There is an idea among some cultures that women should not participate in the sciences for multiple reasons, including a lack of ability. However, it appears that it is actually due to a lack of confidence in women and women’s lack of confidence in themselves. One NY Times article discusses how many women decide to avoid the STEM fields not because they are doing poorly, but because they fear they are not good enough, and often times this view is propagated by teachers and fellow students. The article mentioned cases where a female had difficulty understanding something in a STEM class, but avoided asking questions for fear of being ridiculed. This is a detrimental outcome. By not asking questions, a lack of confidence will eventually become a lack of education, even though the potential is still there.
There are women who break through these barriers and move on to fields traditionally occupied by men. However, it is difficult for these women to be successful. An article in the economist points out how, while it appears that a majority of Americans see women in the business and politics as equally as capable as men, it is not reflected in the workforce. The article mentions that while men are viewed in a more positive light for speaking up, women are viewed in a more negative one. It also mentions how men actually benefit at work from becoming fathers while the opposite effect exists for women becoming mothers. Once again, this problem seems to stem from cultures and traditional roles surrounding men and women as opposed to a lack of ability.
Sources:
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSOnline.jsp
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science.html
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2015/01/women-and-work
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/01/14/women-and-leadership/
I find your comments on the problems women face very interesting. The domestic violence is something that, thankfully, is seeing more traction to be better monitored in this day and age. Unfortunately, domestic violence spreads far beyond America, with less developed countries with different cultures having more of an affinity towards practices like that. It is my opinion that any societal culture that perpetuates domestic violence, or a de-humanizing of another person, be it through gender, religion, race or sexual orientation, is flawed. This day and age fortunately has the growth of international activism, where any sign of abuse, either through cultural practices or not, are being met with the very least, criticism and the call to reform. Also, the point you made about the STEM fields is also interesting. It leads to me ask, what is the typical female profession then? It seems that in the humanities professions, writing, directing, editing, etc., men are still valued more than women, are paid more, and hold more positions. What profession is the female profession? Or perhaps, people should realize that a profession should have nothing to do with gender.
I am shocked by the statistics you’ve presented about domestic violence around the world. Of course domestic violence is viewed differently in different parts of the world but I didn’t think it was that widely acceptable, after all it is physical abuse. That fact that one-third of women in 19 countries believe domestic abuse can be justified at times is appalling. We teach children that it’s not right to hit their classmates in school, no matter what the reason. But now it’s acceptable by grown men and women around the world? How can this be? I feel that this is a serious problem in our society. We need to empower our women to understand that they should not be so accepting of this abuse. If this type of behavior is accepted in some cultures it is also to some degree encouraged. Domestic violence ultimately stagnates the society progress of our women by literally and figuratively clubbing them into submission.
The points you brought up regarding women being inferior is not something that people know about and it is really important that this issue is presented. The statistic that a third of women are beat acceptably by other men is a gender inequality as much as it is a domestic violence issue. Your points of women confidence is important for them to build up a basis to rise up in the ranks. Women need this confidence to in turn build up their skills to participate in STEM fields which seems to be the backbone of societal progress today. If there is inequality in the home, the school, and the workplace, it will be bad for society in the long run to maintain good progress without multiple opinions and viewpoints contributed by both genders. Solving this issue will not be easy however since domestic violence issues look to be culturally tied and it will be interesting to see the process in which this is solved.