SALLY RIDE CONTINUES TO BE AN INSPIRATION FOR MANY
Twenty years ago, America’s first woman in space set up a youth science education program to inspire more women to follow in her footsteps.
Sally Ride couldn’t have known just how vital and enduring her efforts would be.
Biology shouldn’t play a factor in the workplace, and yet as we celebrate a milestone for this program, it still does. Dr. Ride, a physics professor at UC San Diego when she co-founded the Sally Ride Science education program, didn’t need research to observe that girls were poorly represented in the sciences. She didn’t need empirical data to note that bright, inquisitive girls who excelled at math in elementary and middle schools were somehow deterred from those subjects by high school.
The reasons are debatable, but we know from studies that a troublingly high percentage of boys and girls still hold the stubborn perception that to be a scientist or a mathematician is to be a socially awkward man. At first read, that seems comical, but the results of that pervasive perception are too disturbing to be humorous.
Ride sought to tackle the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) head-on, and we continue her efforts today with a wide range of courses led by women and instructors who are shifting the perception of what a scientist looks like.
There is no credible evidence that gender differences in science professions or leadership roles has anything to do with biology. That leaves us to look at how societal cues, instead, are generating such disproportionate representation.
A 2008 study from the National Academy of Engineering asked young people if they wanted to be engineers. Girls were twice as likely as boys to say no. But when asked if they would like to design a safe water system, save the rainforest or use DNA to solve crimes, the girls answered yes.
Good intentions are not enough when it comes to changing biased behavior and beliefs. Even the facial expression of an adult when children say they like math or science carries a lot of weight. Are these adults surprised when a little girl says she wants to be an engineer and yet enthusiastic and congratulatory when her younger brother says the same? We know with startling clarity that children are much more perceptive than we give them credit for.
They pick up on what’s not said with astonishing accuracy, noting what’s acceptable and what’s unusual. At very early ages, little boys and little girls begin to know where they belong and where they don’t. And we know that the perception of what a scientist looks like disproportionately disenfranchises young girls.
Ride famously had to field inane, sexist questions when she was preparing to shatter the universe’s highest ceiling on her trajectory into space. She handled them with aplomb, but the messaging was telling when she was asked if she cried when things went wrong, what type of makeup she was taking or if she was worried about the restroom facilities.
But Ride knew that representation spoke louder than questions and, today, the number of female astronauts who name her among their inspirations would have thrilled Ride beyond measure. She often explained that seeing more women as leaders in the sciences would affect the perceptions and views of not just young women and young boys, but everyone. We’ll never know the influence she has had on women in other professional fields, but judging from the students who take part in her science programming, we know that this number is likely astronomical.
Ride knew that representation spoke louder than questions and, today, the number of female astronauts who name her among their inspirations would have thrilled Ride beyond measure.