In light of March being Women’s History Month, female students and staff share their stories of being the minority in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) classes and fields such as engineering, computer science, and biotechnology.
UC High offers many STEM-related pathways for students to pursue, but the gender gap in pathways such as engineering and computer science is noticable. Senior Emilia Ghandour, a former engineering student, remembers the engineering pathway having less than ten girls per class for the past two years. Third-year Engineering Student Senior Farah Aswad said, “[The classes] are not evenly split at all. There are four girls in my class this year.” Senior Eileen Kim, who is in the same third-year class as Aswad, agreed, stating, “The other periods are not evenly split either, and it’s very obvious when you walk into the room.” Computer Science Student Senior Joyce Han said, “When I first went into computer science classes my first year there were maybe one or two other girls and my second year there was one other girl out of a class of 30 students.”
However, this does not deter female students from pursuing their interests in the STEM field. Ghandour said, “My dad is an engineer and growing up he would always teach me about different aspects of engineering. He was always so fascinated by it that it made me fascinated.” Aswad was also inspired by her relatives who are engineers to pursue a career in the field. It is also a very affluent industry; Han said, “Money first inspired me to go into STEM. My brother graduated with an English major from Columbia University, and he realized working in the STEM field could make a better career long term.”
Han started pursuing computer science at an early age, “I started doing Python [coding software] in fifth grade because of my brother’s influence and through that, I learned that coding is cool. I started with block code and then that escalated into thinking, ‘What can I do with this code in the future?’” She continued, “I joined the Computer Science pathway in high school. The first year was Mr. West’s class, which was just block coding and involved a lot of making shapes and making games, which really interested me. I have always loved video games and I feel like not a lot of girls are interested in that. It’s always dolls and makeup, which I love too, but video games opened me up to the programming world.”
Some female students admitted feeling a bit of discrimination in STEM classes, or at least a little left out. Han said, “They joke about it a lot, when doing projects with guys they joke ‘Oh you would never date us,’ ‘What can you do?’ They also don’t choose you as the first option when picking a partner for projects. No one comes to you for help, because they don’t expect you to know the material. It’s more of a silent discrimination.” “I have definitely experienced some hinting of ‘I don’t think you’re doing it right’ or ‘They can’t do it well,’” said Ghandour. These girls admit that it isn’t uncommon to feel micromanaged by male peers when working in a group setting.
Biomedical Sciences Teacher Jessica Bosch worked in the biotech field as an associate scientist in drug discovery research for eight years before becoming a teacher. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in cell and molecular biology from San Diego State University. Reflecting on the teachers she had in the STEM field, she said, “In high school my science teachers were all men. College was mainly men as well, but the ones who had the most impact on me were women.” She hopes to have the same impact for her students: “I’ve kept many relationships with my former students. It means so much to me when they come back to UC High to visit and tell me how much I’ve meant to them, my class being the class where their love of molecular biology started, and how my class was the class that has really helped them in college,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Han, Ghandour, Aswad, and Kim plan to pursue STEM-based careers in the future, defying the outdated precedent. Aswad said, “The fact that there aren’t a lot of women in the field encourages me to pursue it more.” She added, “What keeps me interested is the fact that it’s hands-on and there is a lot of creative thinking that goes into it and a lot of flexibility in what you can do and how you want to do it rather than being a very strict career where you have to follow a very specific path.” Ghandour agreed: “The possibilities for the future keep me interested. I feel like there is a lot I can do with an engineering degree, and it gives me a lot of opportunity in the field.”