In a field historically dominated by men, efforts to push for women empowerment and equality have come a long way to inspire young students at Choate Rosemary Hall. With signature programs available to all students such as the Science Research Program (SRP) and Advanced Robotics Concentration (ARC), more young women have the opportunity to get involved in traditionally male-dominated fields. Moving forward, look out for the young female STEM enthusiasts here at Choate.
Currently in the STEM workforce, despite the massive strides taken, there is an imperceptible divide between men and women. As Linda Phan ’22 described it, “I feel like there’s always the issue of salary differences and raises, and I’ve seen that through my friends and family in the STEM industry. Typically, they don’t have a lot of conflicts with their gender, but there is always that invisible wall that follows their accomplishments.” Phan’s second-hand testimony of her family members’ struggles speaks for some of the young women from Choate who will soon enter into STEM industries. Despite the numerous accomplishments women may have, there is an omnipresent barrier separating them from the men in the workforce. As a result, many young girls are discouraged from pursuing careers in STEM fields.
Choate is meant to foster a conducive yet challenging environment for learning. Students demonstrate a true passion for learning, and many share a common interest in STEM. Kiki Kim ’20, an SRP student, stated, “[Choate] definitely offers a lot of opportunities especially with programs such as SRP because you can dive deeper individually and learn how to do STEM on your own.” This year in the biology section of SRP, there are six females and one male, starkly different from the average of equal representation.
Another SRP student, Siri Palreddy ’20, remarked, “When I’m in class, it’s definitely empowering to see all these girls around me, all very smart, and all helping each other learn. It’s a good community, but it’s not something I’m surprised by at Choate.” In SRP, a lot of progress has been made to break down the gender divide in science and create a more inclusive environment. Despite the great strides in improvement made recently, there is still work to be done in terms of fair treatment in programs like ARC.
Historically, robotics and engineering have been male-dominated fields in which female participation has been discouraged. Here at Choate, the ARC program advisors are dedicated to working alongside students to help them gain a deeper understanding of the field. “Our coaches do an amazing job,” Jamie Shin ’20 commented. However, she still expressed her deep-rooted concerns of the struggles women face in the classroom: “A lot of people make it seem like there is less discrimination, but a lot of girls still experience it.” Shin shared, “Every single day in the lab I feel some sort of discrimination as a female, but I feel like it is more of a subconscious act due to long-term stereotypes and biases. Even if girls are welcome to be in the classroom, it doesn’t feel as if they are as welcome in the conversations and discussions.”
Although ARC is quite even in terms of the gender ratio of participants — seven females and ten males — many of the girls still face obstacles in the classroom, one being that there are no female advisers to the ARC program. As a result, an ARC student who preferred to remain anonymous noted a difficult gender dynamic inside the classroom: “It’s harder for [the advisers] to be more empathetic and for them to understand what it feels like when we enter the room and aren’t considered for the main build roles.” Building off biases that may contribute to role distribution, Irie Cooper ’20 explained: “A lot of the time we are — I guess you could say — ‘babied’ and usually put into more ‘feminine’ roles such as CAD or design while the guys on the team get to build stuff and hammer stuff.” Isabella Morizio ’20, another ARC member, added, “Women are often taught to absorb what’s around them, and because of this we tend to morph into someone’s assistant rather than taking charge of a project.” However, this does not stop female ARC members from overcoming this unfair treatment by working with resilience and strength. She continued, “All the girls in ARC have worked tremendously to overcome these struggles, and I couldn’t be more proud of us for how we established ourselves thus far.”
The STEM field has come a long way in building inclusion and equality for women. As a community, however, there is still more room for improvement. Moving forward, Choate must expand its opportunities and representation to ensure more involvement and inclusivity for all students.
