Tyresa Jackson is
a graduate student in the Masters of Public Administration program (Public
Policy and Administration), with a specialization in law and administration at
John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Prior to matriculating into John Jay College of Criminal Justice, she
earned a Bachelor of Art in International Political Economy and Diplomacy with
a minor in Mass Communications from the University of Bridgeport.
While living in Bridgeport, Connecticut, she served on
the Juvenile Review Board, which provided restorative justice recommendations
to at-risk-youth in the Bridgeport community.
Later, she moved to Chicago, where she served as a board member on Illinois
Collaboration on Youth Advisory Board (ICOY).
Her passions include, closing the education-to-prison pipeline,
education reform, and increasing the number of women in STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math). In her free
time, she enjoys reading, writing, volunteering, and participating in 5K runs.
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Gender Disparities in STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Starting
in elementary school, the importance of increasing cultural and gender
competence is an integral part of developing students’ confidence to pursue
studies in fields deemed challenging, like mathematics and the sciences. In particular, there are large disparities in
the number of African-American women pursing an education and careers in STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) related fields. These disparities demonstrate a larger
problem within education standards, gender bias and stereotypes.
Dr. Chandra
Prescod-Weinstein is the 63rd African-American woman to attain a doctorate
in physics. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein specializes in theoretical physics, and
further reading raised a few questions: What
are astrophysicists, and why are there a small number of African-American women
for who attain PhDs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
related fields? Both globally and
domestically, there are major differences in girls educated in STEM[Office1] . [NE2]
According
to the National Girls Collaborative Project, fifty-seven percent of bachelor degrees
earned in all fields were earned by women, however, nineteen percent of
bachelor’s degree within engineering were earned by women, compared to eighty-one
percent of men. Further, thirty-nine
percent of physics degrees were earned by women compared to sixty-one percent
of men.
Girls in
STEM
Gender
disparities between boys and girls pursuing STEM related courses is evident
starting in primary school and are due to an array of factors, including
societal, familial, and cultural influences.
Although, access to education for women and girls have improved
globally, disparities in the access to a basic education still persist, thereby
influencing the gender gap in STEM education.
To
demonstrate, a study conducted in the United Kingdom, found at ages ten to
eleven both boys and girls equally engaged in STEM education (75% of boys and
72% of girls), and reported learning interesting things in science. Later, at the age of eighteen, these numbers
changed to 33% of boys and 19% of girls learning something interesting things
in science (UNESCO, 2017).
Within the
United States, disparities in STEM span across both gender and racial lines[Office3] . For example, in the American College Testing
(ACT) publication—The Condition of STEM 2016, it reported 30,057 African American students
tested in mathematics, science and STEM; of those students tested, twenty-five
percent met ACT college math readiness standards, twenty-two percent met ACT
science college readiness standards, and nine percent met ACT college STEM readiness
standards. Comparatively, 23,102 Asian-American
students took the ACT, and eighty percent met ACT college readiness standards, sixty-eight
percent met ACT science college readiness standards, and fifty-four percent met
ACT STEM college readiness standards.
On
balance, in total, there were 162,878 male test takers, and forty-one percent
met ACT STEM college readiness standards.
Moreover, in total, there were 185,769 female test takers, and
twenty-six percent met ACT STEM college readiness standards.
African
American Girls in STEM
Over the
past century, African-American women have made great strides in STEM related
careers, including Katherine Johnson, a mathematician at NASA, Mae Jemison-NASA
astronaut, engineer, and physician, and now, Chandra Prescod-Weinstein, a
physicist. Despite these advances,
African-American women continue to fall behind their counterparts in pursuing STEM
related education and careers[Office4] . According to the National Science Foundation, Division of
Science Resources and Statistics, in
2006, one percent of African-American women were employed as scientist and
engineers compared.
Studies
have found that African-American and Hispanic girls say they have an interest in
STEM, but have less exposure, less adult support, lower academic achievement,
and are more aware of gender barriers.
Also, once an African-American student is identified as low performing,
they are tracked from primary through secondary education, and placed in
lower-level courses (DeSena & Ansalone, 2009; “Teaching Inequity”, 1989).
Furthermore, social science has found internalizing gender stereotypes of being
insufficient, leads to low performance in STEM courses (Girls Scouts of the
USA/Girl Scout Research Institute, 2012).
If we
are to increase the likelihood of more African American women attaining a PhD
in physics or other STEM related fields we must cultivate an educational
environment that increases intellectual aptitude by incorporating calculus,
chemistry, physics as part of the mandatory curriculum starting in primary
education.
With the
support of family, teachers, and positive adults, African-American girls, and
girls throughout the world can dismember negative stereotypes and cultivate a
generation of women scientist and mathematicians[Office5] . Teachers and faculty alike, starting from
elementary through post-secondary must provide additional supports (e.g., STEM
afterschool programs and culturally competent class material); further,
recruiting more women teacher of diverse cultures who are educated in a STEM
related field, in, turn, removes the stigma girls are not smart enough.
The
importance of encouraging African-American girls and women to pursue STEM
related fields, in turn, can increase their representation in higher education. Additionally, in higher education many students
of color face difficulties completing math and science courses, and therefore,
diversifying curriculum development and implementation can bring forth unique
ways to teach African-American students, and other students of color, for
example, using pedagogy.
To
conclude, parents and caretakers alike are encouraged to place children in STEM
after-school programs and summer camps, which increases intellectual
abilities-critical thinking, mathematics skills, and reading. Gender equity
begins with simple words of encouragement and supporting girls by allowing them
to take challenging math and science course along with having tutoring and
additional systems.
Pasted
below, are STEM programs parents and caretakers alike can place their children
within.
