Earlier this month, February 11th, marked The International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day set aside by the United Nations (UN) as a day to promote equality and encourage young girls to enter the exciting and impactful world of science. Considering we at Trinity are lucky enough to house many female scientists who are world leaders in their respective fields, it seems obvious that College would take this day to celebrate their work and provide inspiration and encouragement to aspiring young students, right? Wrong!
Of course, there was the usual social media post offering congratulations and even a video touring our campus, asking young women why they chose their current courses. And while certain science societies offered mixers and meet ups for their female members, there really wasn’t a lot done college wide to recognise this day for what it really is and indeed there was no effort to use it for its intended purposes, if you really think about it. It’s always lovely to meet with our female peers and discuss how fabulous we look in our lab coats, but surely our college and indeed our student body should’ve put more effort into facing the real problems and making informed plans for the future of women in science, rather than feeding into the uncertainty of the dystopian future we seem to be entering by ignoring those who need the most support.
”While we bask in the glory of the past and plan for fruitful futures, those issues that need attention right now will keep building and building until they are too big to ignore”
When asked why they chose to enter science, many young women will list their favourite scientists and say that they want to combat poverty, improve healthcare and halt climate change, to name a few noble pursuits. They’ll talk about the discrimination faced by Katherine Johnson, the illness that Marie Curie endured because of her work and about the attempted erasure of women such as Ada Lovelace and Rosalind Franklin from science history. We all talk about how far we’ve come, which is extremely important, but while we bask in the glory of the past and plan for fruitful futures, those issues that need attention right now will keep building and building until they are too big to ignore.
Issues such as lack of access to education for those in impoverished and repressed societies, the growing distrust in science due to misinformation and the increasing tension between governments were all issues left undiscussed by Trinity on the 11th, despite them being detrimental to the progress of our sector. Even the barriers to women and girls in science that we in the discipline are supposedly familiar with, including damaging stereotypes, the gender pay gap and the lack of encouragement given to young girls to enter science were all ignored when we should have been collaborating to share ideas and inspire each other with personal experiences and solutions.
“Despite the progress, women still make up only one-third of the global science community and face significant barriers in funding, publishing and leadership roles in STEM”
The existence of these issues cannot be denied, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres discussing the importance of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) on the day, saying that “Despite the progress, women still make up only one-third of the global science community and face significant barriers in funding, publishing and leadership roles in STEM”. With many such experts citing female involvement in STEM as a potential solution to an array of issues including unstable economies, violence in society, the lack of female models used in healthcare research and even climate change, it seems obvious then that each and every one of us should encourage greater female participation in STEM, starting from the very youngest in school and also, most importantly, shine a light those would-be girls in science in areas without access to proper healthcare or even civil rights, never mind education.
”Maybe on the 11th of February next year, we can shout a little louder than the deafening silence from our college and our government”
While there are countless articles on the UN’s website calling for greater diversity, involvement and support in STEM, from my own personal experience, you need only to look to the person next to you in a lecture hall or lab to find someone with a story and a dream. We mustn’t rely on the institutions we attend to take action, we must honor those people of the past that we look up to and make real changes. If we look to past Trinity events for this UN day of celebration, we do indeed find some recognition, but largely in the form of lukewarm gatherings and, notably, quotes by men on the success of the day’s endeavors. So take this as a sign to take action, inspire and support where you can to materialise those goals that we so often mention as passing comments and turn them into real, achievable goals and action. And maybe on the 11th of February next year, we can shout a little louder than the deafening silence from our college and our government.
