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[return to "Sex and STEM: Stubborn Facts and Stubborn Ideologies"]
1. Noos+c7[view] [source] 2018-02-15 10:37:58
>>andren+(OP)
What's really annoying about this is that women are not underrepresented in STEM careers! The article mentions if anything, they are overrepresented in the life sciences, and are only underrepresented in math at the doctoral level. The issue is that we are suddenly defining STEM as computer science and engineering only, and that those are apparently the only worthwhile aspects of STEM. The sexism thing and message thing is odd when you realize women in general can make up to two thirds of science teachers.

I think the problem with computer science in general is that it's one of the few careers you need to like at an early age and do a lot of self-directed study before you even enter college, or you are at a disadvantage compared to others. This affects both men and women, and keep in mind most men aren't interested in those fields either.

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2. YeGobl+dh[view] [source] 2018-02-15 13:09:25
>>Noos+c7
I don't think it's just Engineering and Maths that have a problem. There's this joke where someone says "A man and his son are in a car crash and they're taken to hospital. The doctor sees the child and goes 'Oh no! It's my son!'". Then they ask you "who is the doctor"?

The point is that you are supposed to struggle with the answer because you can't imagine the doctor to be the boy's mother. That there exists an assumption that people will find this difficult to answer suggests that there is some sort of expected cultural bias about doctors being male or female.

An anecodte, of course- literally.

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3. bloak+1n[view] [source] 2018-02-15 14:06:10
>>YeGobl+dh
That works much better with "surgeon" instead of "doctor". Lots of doctors are female, but not so many surgeons, at least here in the UK.
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4. classi+nH[view] [source] 2018-02-15 16:31:24
>>bloak+1n
My kid sister is a critical care-trauma surgeon. One of her (least) favourite stories when she worked in the South was when she took care of a rather complex ICU case. At the end of it the patient said, "I just want you to know that you were great, but I never saw the doctor once."

My sister is rarely at a loss for words but I'm not sure _she_ even knew what to say to that.

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