By Cinthya Margarita Flores Félix
For a long time the feminine connotation has been synonymous with weakness, incapacity and in general inferiority. Historically, women had to remain silent, obeying, without the possibility of reply and even detracting from our own capabilities. All this, with the understanding of complying with social stereotypes and the “ought to be” as a woman. However; There are many women who throughout history have been disruptive within the contexts that were developed, which has allowed us to have reference figures of capacity, value and aspiration even when our environments often tell us the opposite.
It is curious how issues related to gender still cause a lot of controversy, since some people claim that “equality” exists, and both men and women have the same spaces and opportunities. Maybe; However, equality is far from being fair and social movements aspire towards an “equity” that allows a true state of “what is fair.”
Currently, despite the struggle to make these issues visible, statistics remind us that there is still a long way to go and change to close gender gaps, specifically in fields of science. According to UNESCO, despite there being similar performance between boys and girls, stereotypes continue to be an important indicator for their professional development, with girls being little encouraged to venture into fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Likewise, it is shared that only 35% of students in STEM-related careers are women.
The UN 2030 agenda encourages us to continue working on the commitment to “leave no one behind”, insisting on improving the inequalities systematically reproduced by society, where sex, gender, ethnic origin, among others, are decisive for achieve full development. On the other hand, although there are opportunities to develop as women in these areas, those of us who are involved in science, today we also face the lack of female leadership, where the majority of representatives and decision makers continue being men.
Despite the efforts, UNESCO shares with us that to date only 22 women have been awarded a Nobel Prize in scientific disciplines. This is why it is important to commemorate, but above all make visible these days that allow us to reflect on the opportunities we currently have, but also the challenges that we still have to conquer daily in our daily lives.
The importance of having figures whose femininity does not pigeonhole them into being weak, docile and invisible, allows more girls to feel encouraged and confident that they have the ability to develop as many skills and abilities as they want. Women and girls in science deserve to be listened to and taken into account, to be included in the conversation and considered to lead, since many have shown us that “doing it like a girl” means being brilliant and capable of conquering challenges. to be presented to them.
Coordinator of the Doctors in Training Collective
Twitter: @md_cinthyamff @medsenciencia