It is widely observed that STEM standing for science, technology, engineering and mathematics has witnessed a remarkable increase in the number of women in recent decades all over the world. This positive development is mainly attributed to the earlier pioneering women whose significant contributions to STEM were made. From my point of view, although a myriad of women in these fields undeniably bequeathed most of their discoveries to succeeding generations, Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie, who I suppose are the most well-acclaimed people in STEM, are immensely influential to both the young and the female in pursuing a career in STEM.
1. Ada Lovelace:
There is no doubt that these dignified females have altered significantly traditional stereotypes about the position of women in STEM thanks to their great accomplishments. To begin with, Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician and writer born in 1815, is noted for her work on the Analytical Engine which was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer. In other words, she is regarded as one of the first computer programmers, playing a role in creating the predecessor of modern computers.
2. Marie Curie
Marie Curie, a Polish-French physicist and chemist, is renowned for her pioneering research on radioactivity. Besides, according to the record, she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first and the only woman to win a Nobel Prize twice and the only person to win two Nobel prizes in two scientific fields. Consequently, it can be seen that both Ada Lovelace and Marie Curie introduced great innovations improving our current lives; thereby, they proved themselves and broke the old mould of the role of women particularly in STEM.
3. Their legacies
By their impressive achievements, they have become inspirations to younger women and girls; therefore, the later generation is strongly encouraged to enrol for STEM careers. According to Women on Boards: 2019 Progress Report of Olga Emelianova and Christina Milhomem, IT (information technology) witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of female board directors. Standing at 14.8% in 2018, the figure significantly rose to 17.9 % in 2019, which can show that the interest from females in STEM is becoming more intense. Furthermore, women in STEM have won many prestigious prizes by virtue of their whole-life contributions. For instance, in 2018, Caltech’s Frances Arnold was awarded Nobel chemistry and Donna Strickland in Canada received Nobel Prizes in physics. As a consequence, it is often said that women in this field are granted privilege in the contemporary world.
Notwithstanding that “so-called” special honour, women have to desperately strive for acclamation. One of the sorriest plights of women in STEM careers is that they are usually under-recognized; thus, their discoveries are likely to be coldly ignored or be credited to men. For example, Rosalind Franklin, a chemist and molecular biologist from London, is the person discovering the structure of DNA. Unfortunately, her research was given no recognition since Francis Frick and James Watson had stolen her research and published their double helix-theory of DNA. Tragically, until when she passed away, she was unaware of her research having been stolen while the males still credited themselves for their Nobel-winning discovery. Furthermore, despite the triumphs of Arnold and Strickland at last year’s Nobel Prizes, here, too, there has been a distinct gender bias. Since the Nobel Prize was established, 97 per cent of science prize winners have been men. Accordingly, gender discrimination is undoubtedly a formidable barrier to women in STEM in this day and age.
Clearly, pioneering women in STEM such as Marie Curie and Ada Lovelace have paved the way for the next generation. Although sadly speaking, the gender gap remains a serious obstacle, the positive inspiration from the pioneers seems to highly motivate women in current times to engage themselves more in STEM. From my perspective, if this positive trend continues to develop, women will be highly likely to receive public admiration and well-deserved awards.