User:Isabelladj/Female education in STEM

Changing Gender Bias In STEM Education

The gender bias in STEM starts off early in education, often educators influence their students with personal views, even if the educators are unaware they are doing this. A study from 2007 found that the presentation of STEM class concepts often took race and gender terms in a decontextualized manner that reinforced systemic stereotypes. Another issue in STEM education is the lack of women educators, especially women of color. Biased hiring practices favor men and institutionalized practices for preparing science teachers lack critical awareness of social systemic issues including sexism and racism. Visualization is one of the first steps to creating change. As explained by Kimberlé Crenshaw, you cannot fix a problem that you are unaware of. Intersectionality is important for understanding the layers of oppression people face. To change this in education, there needs to be more educators that are women, people of color, and part of the LQBTQ+ community because this gives more students a sense of belonging in the STEM field and there also needs to be a focus on “intergroup dialogue” which focuses on building relationships across genders and identities, critical awareness of privilege and systemic oppression, and promoting capacities to work towards equity in STEM. Both students and educators need to be part of these intergroup dialogues to create a comprehensive understanding of oppressive systems and what can be done to dismantle them both on a large scale and in the classroom.