Are you a female? Do you like being the ‘elephant in the room’? Are you comfortable with the fact that you may walk into a classroom with almost certainty that you will be the only person that looks like you, for most your classes? Are you comfortable with the fact that the ratio of your classes will continue you on for the rest of your career? Then maybe a STEM career is the career for you!
The fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) may be some of the best fields to head into, that is, if you like being a successful, innovative person with wealth, PhD’s, and a chance to change the world of course. Chemistry, geology, physics, computer science, mathematics, statistics, and all the beautiful branches of engineering are all amazing focuses in STEM with fantastic benefits if you can finish a degree in them. But, some people don’t get to make it to that finish line. Specially, young females in their undergraduate years seem to get lost or simply quit midway through when it comes to those majors. I wonder why?
Myself, I am a mathematics major. I have loved mathematics throughout my entire academic career and felt that pursuing an actuarial science career was the best fit for me. The challenge of the actuarial exams, the usual corporate settings, an amazing salary, job security and employment rate for Bachelor’s degree graduates seems too good to be true seeing that many people these days must jump straight to graduate school before obtaining a decent wage job.
But, with all that comes with it, I do have to come to terms that with every math class I move up into, people who look like me (female and African-American) become scarce. When I do get to Calculus II, III, and beyond that, I will most likely be the only African-American female in the classroom surrounded by white males. When I do graduate and work at an insurance company or a firm, I might end up being the only one in my department who looks like me.
Personally, I think as time goes on, the more times I am placed into that situation, it will get better. I know there are people who do it now, and they admit to the struggle of finding ways to relate to their colleagues that they almost have nothing in common with besides their job and love for it.
There are going to be moments where you are going to feel uncomfortable. There will be moments where you feel like you must prove something and constantly must be right because you’re setting an example for yourself and everything you represent. There are going to be instances where you feel like you’re being discriminated and profiled against (which could honestly go either way since discrimination against woman and race is still a thing in the modern work place.)
But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There are women like me; women who are toughing it all out to create a more diverse, less hostile environment where woman can feel more encouraged and welcomed into the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We do not mind being the ‘elephants in the room’ knowing that it allows us to have the generation close behind us, ready and willing to attempt the challenges that come ahead, diversify the fields, and prepare the next generation to do the same
