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Minority Women and STEM
Minority women are the least represented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Though African-Americans and Latinos make up 12 and 16 percent of the U.S. population, respectively, they make up just 5 and 6.2 percent of the engineering workforce. Women are similarly underrepresented: Only 13.4 percent of engineering professionals are women. STEM education begins in early age, such as kindergarten, with hands-on learning and training so they can feel comfortable learning a male-dominant field and become successful in their futures. At a young age, minorities in poor, rural areas are least likely to pursue a higher education. Irving Pressley McPhail, CEO of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, suggested in 2011 that STEM should be emphasized more through the early years of a child's education. In early education, such as middle and high school students, courses involving STEM, such as mechanics, computers, higher levels of science and mathematics are mostly occupied by males and taught by males as well. Girls tend to take more home economics courses and easier courses because of gender roles typically played in their future. In rural poor areas, schools do not have enough funds to focus on specific subjects and involve all students. Schools who offer STEM programs to young girls, "stimulate their intellectual curiosity," and give young girls the opportunities that they could not receive by going to schools in low-income areas.

As the United States faces critical economic situations, education has become one of the nation's top priorities, especially aiming towards schools attended by low-income minority students. Ronald Reagan's A Nation At Risk called for the immediate attention towards the failing of American schools. The attention was faced towards the "'quality of teaching and learning' at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels, in both the public and private spheres; and to compare American schools and colleges with those of other advanced nations." Former President, George W. Bush, came up with the No Child Left Behind actTo give schools incentives to better themselves. This act was mainly used in schools in rural, poor areas. The monetary rewards given to schools influenced the demands of better education. More government funds were distributed to schools that had a higher percentage of students scoring Proficient and above in state exams. Linda Perlstein, a staff writer for The Washington Postwho covered local and national education issues, wrote a book, Tested : one American school struggles to make the grade , which explains the transformation and struggles of a failing Maryland elementary school, Tyler Heights. Because of the standards set up by the No Child Left Behind act, the majority of schools focused more on reading, writing, and some math in order to prepare for such statewide tests. This influenced the lack of STEM involvement with minority children, especially young girls. The stereotype that boys are better than girls in math and science still negatively affect the performance of girls in these fields. Gender differences in self-confidence in STEM subjects starts in middle school and increases thereafter, with girls being less confident in their math and science abilities.

Higher education has not been doing a good job in helping two of the biggest persecuted groups in the United states, women and members of racial or ethnic minorities. Advanced, college-leveled courses are not offered to high school students who lived in rural areas and thus never help spark an interest in science, math, technology, and engineering, especially in women. According to the American Council on Education, 57% of all college students are women--but women only represent 45% of college math majors, 20% of computer science majors and 20% of engineering majors. And a report from the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering showed that only 12.5% of the engineering bachelor's degrees awarded in 2006 went to underrepresented minorities, including blacks, Hispanics and American Indians. Many women felt they could not identify themselves, or see themselves in STEM, because they were not encouraged to pursue a future career in STEM in their early years, influencing their decisions to decide their major, or choosing not to go to school at all. "The absence of women in the sciences [STEM] is symptomatic of a much deeper issue associated with the norms and expectations of science. Because the normal image of scientists has been, and continues to be, white, middle/upper-class, solitary, laboratory oriented, it is necessary to modify 'scientist' when we try to include other types of people" (9) There is an image to uphold for female scientist, and poor minority fail to fall into this category. There is a small growth of minority women enrolling in colleges, and it is encouraged, but it is increasing at a very low pace.

Feminism and STEM Enrollment
The idea of women being known as scientists or part of other STEM fields are still considered, "out of the norm" since science, technology, engineering and math are predominantly male. Though there is still a a lack in women's involvement in STEM, women have evolved from centering their lives in the private sphere into the public sphere. They have take working positions which is mainly the duty the patriarchal bread-winner. It has long been known that "the ‘stay-at-home mom’ represents ‘traditional’ family values and harks back to the purported stability of the U.S. postwar years; the ‘working woman’ speaks of the breaking down of gender boundaries and the challenges of new family roles for both women and men” (Domosh and Seager p. 1) The feminist movement, referring to refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. The movement's priorities vary among nations and communities and range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country or to the glass ceiling in another. It pushed, and still pushes, women equality and liberation and chances for attending colleges and universities were more available.

Second-wave feminism, introduced in the 1960's until the 1980's, gave women a push to fight against gender discrimination and the act of exploring their own sexuality. The feminist movement gave women an incentive to pursue a higher education. Since the 1980's, with every jump in male enrollment in colleges and universities, the female jump would be greater. The decade between 1997 and 2007 showed an increase nearly double female to male ratio. Men enrolled at a 32% increased rate, but women were a 63% increase in enrollment. In 2009, nearly 74% of high school graduate women were enrolled in college. The number of men was about 66%. The Title IX Education Amendments of 1972 states that, "Prohibition against discrimination; exceptions. No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..." Although women are enrolling more into colleges, there is still a low involvement in STEM.

Reasons for Low Enrollment in STEM Programs
Londa Schiebinger mentions Margaret Rossiter's two concepts of understanding women in science and the disadvantages that they have in the book Has Feminism Change Science? Margaret Rossiter offers the concept of "hierarchical segregation" in which it describes the lessening of women as one "moves up the ladder of power and prestige"(33) If we take a closer look, women are not seen in high positions for example CEO s of companies, government officials, scientists and engineers. The Majority of these figures are male. The majority of women are not seen in high positions in the fields of STEM and therefor there is a lack of gender diversity.

Schiebinger also mentions Rossiter's second concept, "territorial segregation." It states that women "cluster" in a certain field of study or a major in college or university. Women also have a lower chance of having a STEM position as professors or researchers. It is well known that, "women are more likely to teach and do research in the humanities and social sciences than in the natural sciences and engineering" (34). The majority of women in college focus in majors such as psychology, education, English, performing arts, nursing, etc. Women generally tend to form these "clusters" to find comfort not provided by STEM institutions or work spaces where men out number women. Sex segregation describes the uneven distributions of women and men across occupations, industries, or fields of study. While other types of gender inequality have declined dramatically since the 1960s (for example, in legal rights, labor force participation rates, and educational attainment), some forms of sex segregation are remarkably resilient in the industrial world. Women are paid less than their male counterpart, even if they had a higher degree or served in the workplace slight longer. Professional women opt out of their jobs because there is not much representation of their sex, and employers fail to accommodate their female employees. In STEM, women usually do not receive equal monetary funds for their research as male professors or scientists do, which lowers the women's self-esteem and therefore the low involvement of women in STEM.

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