SCIENCE PITCH TO GIRLS SEES BACKLASH
At first blush it looks like the worst kind of feminist pink washing.
A new government of Canada campaign used kittens, fashion and selfies to entice young girls to pursue jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Science minister Kirsty Duncan launched the effort, called Choose Science, on Feb. 11 to mark the International Day for Women and Girls in Science. In addition to a social media campaign, it included a slick website, with resources for parents, educators and girls to help address the persistent gap of women in the STEM fields.
Which sounds innocuous enough, until you notice the page for girls uses pictures of kittens to say science is about caring, and it points out how more traditionally female pursuits like photography, fashion and gymnastics encompass principles of math and physics. It also proclaims, “A career in STEM doesn’t mean spending your life in science class.”
The suggestion that girls would only be enticed into the fields of science and technology by showing their softer side has since prompted fierce backlash.
“This perpetuates negative stereotypes — we need you (to) stand up and say that science class *is* interesting and it *is* for girls,” Lindsay LeBlanc, a physicist at the University of Alberta, responded to Duncan’s tweet announcing the campaign.
On Facebook the very feminine pitch has been called “horrifying.”
But women who work in STEM — especially those who do the hard work of trying to increase female enrolment in still male-dominated programs like engineering — suggest the campaign is doing the right thing by meeting girls “where they’re at.”
“The piece that’s interesting for me is that this acknowledges there are some girls that still need to be met wherever they are,” said Dawn Britton, director of outreach for the University of Toronto’s faculty of engineering. “There are girls who are going to be already excited by science and engineering, and we see that from the first photo (at the top of the page of a young girl wearing wings and strapped to skateboards) … but then there are girls who may not understand the technology and science around those things already.”
“I love the idea of the government meeting the girls where they’re at,” Britton said. “Regardless of someone’s gender identity, they are interested in fashion or music or selfies, and that can be used as a gateway to encourage interest in science.
“Don’t just take selfies … but think about the technology that you’re using.”
The gender norms that depress female engagement in STEM start taking hold by Grade 1, by Grade 3 many are entrenched, she explained. The University of Toronto is a leader in the push to get more girls into engineering — still one of the most male-dominated STEM fields — hitting forty per cent female enrolment last September for the first time. Statistics Canada data released in June 2016 shows women have made great strides in certain STEM fields but not others. As of 2011, women comprised just 22.7 per cent of the STEM-related workforce. But they make up 42.5 per cent of those working in life science and 49.6 per cent of those in math statistics and actuarial sciences. Yet, just 24.7 per cent of those working in computer science are women, and just 13 per cent of civic, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineers are female.
Neuroscientist Kim Matheson said her first reaction to the campaign was, “Why do we need these stereotypes?”
But then she realized the value in enticing girls into STEM.
“I don’t know how they came up with this, but if this is what gets girls — and we’re talking about girls — it doesn’t matter what feminists think should or shouldn’t be the (gender) dichotomies … if this captures their imagination and if it works, great,” said the culture and gender mental health research chair jointly held at The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research and Carleton University. “They will evolve over time. There are still girls who are into this stuff, and you don’t have to look too far to see they are into this stuff.
“You aren’t going to change them by telling them not to be something that they’re not.”
I LOVE THE IDEA OF THE GOVERNMENT MEETING THE GIRLS WHERE THEY’RE AT.