"What is your major?"

"Chemistry."

"Oh, I'm sorry that must be awful."

Whenever someone asks me what my major is, that is the typical response I get. At first, it was funny and at times it is true, but what is so wrong with being a chemistry major? If that same conversation were to happen between guys, I guarantee the response would be "Wow that is awesome, good for you." But, because I am a female in the twenty-first century, being a STEM major is not normal.

It can be found through plenty of statistics that men are much more likely to go into STEM than women. I think that statement alone scares many females away from STEM majors and careers, as well as arrogant individuals who believe only males should be engineers or doctors. I'm sorry but without Marie Curie and Rosalind Franklin science would not be where it is today. Thanks to many powerful women, science has made successful progressions that may not have occurred otherwise.

I may not be the next Marie Curie or Rosalind Franklin, but I am looking to make progress in science with chemistry and that is why I am proud of my major. I am not a chemistry major just because I want to go to medical school.

If that was the case, I wouldn't be taking the hardest major possible to do so. I am a chemistry major because I love learning about the makeup of many elements in the world and how mathematics can explain chemical reactions.

And more importantly, I love feeling empowered with that knowledge- especially as a woman in the twenty-first century. I am proud of my major, and although at times I may want to cry because I am up til 3 a.m. studying, I wouldn't want to do anything else.

The next time someone tells me that my major is "awful" I am going to laugh along because they don't know what is coming for them and the future with powerful women in science.