International Day of Women and Girls in Science

By Erika Choi

Recently, the number of females in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field has increased, and almost half of women are in the science profession. However, STEM fields are dominated by males in general, including in the US. Women only make up 10% of the engineering field, and the stated reason is that it’s because the workplace culture in engineering is more affiliated with the male gender. Arising from these reasons, UNESCO and UN women, wanting to promote women and girls in science, implemented the International Day of Women/Girls in Science. This day is observed on the 11th day of February and started December 22, 2015.

As I am interested in science, it was pretty surprising that women often aren’t associated with this field.

Come to think about it, when I was in middle school, I didn’t understand why I should like science since it seemed like not a lot of women did. I did not like science because it wasn’t interesting to me, and it was all about memorizing.

Surprisingly, however, ever since I started at The New School, my favorite subject became science. Last year, I took about three science classes (Forensic biology, Chemistry of Cosmetics, and Chemistry of Fireworks) that sounded interesting to me. All three courses had the lab, which is the key that led me into science. During a lab was the first time that I had curiosities in academic ways. Still, I am not very good at science and don’t have all A+s in this subject, but I want to learn more since I am very interested in the field. I believe that curiosity will lead me to study more and get better at it later.

I hope the International Day of Women and Girls in Science will be known to more people so that the workplace culture can change to where many more women can participate.