There are many difficulties that women and minorities face when getting into STEM. Many of these were addressed more in detail on my Reading 04 post. One of the greatest problems is prejudice. Women are often underestimated in the work environment and are often given tasks that are not given to their male colleagues. They may be asked to get coffee for everyone or to do minor tasks that do not make full use of their skills. Often they will also not be taken seriously even when they are right. For example, in one of the readings of Reading 04 we read of how a lady found a major bug in the company’s code. Her coworkers completely disregarded her and said that if there was such a big bug, they would have found it already. When she finally convinced one of her male coworkers that there was a bug, he was the one to bring it up. This time they listened to him. Later, when they were trying to find someone to fix the bug, she said she could do it. Incredulous, they let her do it but made it explicitly clear that two other programmers had to sign on her work.
This same problem applies to racial minorities. We may be underestimated because of the color of our skin or the accent we speak with. This prejudice causes them to underestimate us and overlook our actual talent and skills. This is seen very strongly in the movie in how people were reluctant to accept that Kathy could do any real work. Paul was very clear in saying that her checking their work was merely a formality. Perhaps the aggression on the work may not be as direct as that presented in the movie, but there are plenty of microaggressions that still happen on the work place today.
This is certainly something that cannot be simply accepted. Action needs to be taken. Not all action is helpful, however. I believe that setting quotas for companies to fill makes both sides bitter. It leads to minority and female workers being even more underestimated. Other actions need to be created, such as helping underprivileged communities have an improved education system that better prepares them to face our current society. Another approach would be to diversify the hiring team.
The stories people tell are very relevant to the discussion. Story telling through movies, songs, or just people talking can have a huge impact. It lets the listeners who may not be aware of the issue to learn. It will stir them to talk and try to help make a change.
Personally, I can’t say I had many stories that gave me any stereotypes towards STEM. I come from a country where there is fortunately a greater gradient of skin color. I can’t say my country is free from racism, but I believe this sort of stereotypes are less apparent. At the same time, Nicaragua has a high gender equality. In a research by the World Economic Forum, Nicaragua was ranked 6th for highest gender equality. These two factors led to me not having these sort of stereotypes growing up. I believe this helps me see the world in a different way than many people here. Having less stereotypes lets you see the world as it really is. That’s the way we should all strive to see.