How 21st Century Media Has Reconfigured the Socially Standard Image of People in STEM 

In 2015, Nobel Prize winner Tim Hunt made London headlines after his explicit and derogatory remarks about “[his] trouble with girls” (Bilefsky). He states that his “trouble with girls” was that in a laboratory setting with a woman, three things happen: “You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them they cry” (Bilefsky). Hunt’s comments definitely raise the question of where sexism and STEM intersect. He considers women to be love interests. It is worth it to point out that such considerations are solely heterosexual, which fails to include members of the LGBTQ community.

The fact that Hunt felt that he could say such comments illustrates “boxes” that have be confining to women. Women are expected to be more emotional than men, which, according to Hunt, would cause distractions, as well as unproductive tendencies and poor performance. In other words, Hunt is saying that women who work in laboratory settings (which are often seen in STEM fields) do not yield successful results, which has not been proven. This has caused some women to feel discouraged.

Women are still expected to have to take off of work because of childbirth. When asked about the how motherhood affects her occupation, a black microbiologist stated, “There is an assumption that your career is more of a hobby than a career, and you’re only going to do it until you find a husband and/or have a family” (Williams). It was also stated that women “felt they were competing with men who had stay-at-home wives, and that colleagues often assumed that they would lose their drive after they had children” (Williams), which, if true, could support Hunt’s statement. While he articulated his claim, Twitter users challenged his idea, questioning him on the relevance of the separate spheres ideology.

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Before the 21st century, women were pressured into following the stereotypical roles of receptionists and administrative staff in industry, more specifically in science, engineering, and technology fields. In fact, Whether it be men’s difficulties being distracted when working with attractive women in a laboratory setting or their small portrayals in the media (Steinke), the gender gap has become excused and dismissed.

Around 1984, women scientists started being portrayed as assistants to men and not holding any many leadership roles within STEM fields (Shapiro). This can be traced back to the separate spheres ideology of the nineteenth century, where women remained in their homes, '[engaging] in nurturant activities, [and focusing] on children, husbands, and family dependents” while the husbands would be involved in industry (Kerber). Today, however, through an increase in female/racial representation in the media, that status quo has gradually shifted, and therefore made way for the both the reconfiguration and elimination of the nineteenth century separate spheres ideology.

The nineteenth century concept of separate spheres originally restricted women to work in the home, leaving industry to be led by men. Although some industry jobs in the field of STEM, such as computer science, were originally led by women, the strong patriarchal nature of society caused the gender gap in such fields to be socially accepted. Over recent years, however, women have taken, and are taking, back their place in STEM. Whether it be through defending women as a whole on social media, or through the representation of female scientists in television and movies, women are becoming less and less afraid and intimidated to challenge men in what was previously seen as male-dominated fields.

While females aren’t necessarily blowing men out of the water with participation in STEM, large strides have been made in order to greatly reduce the gender bias surrounding women in those fields. Such actions have caused the growing merge of what society used to perceive as separate spheres. As time goes on, there will no longer be separate spheres based on gender roles. Instead, there will only be one single sphere, containing the ideology that there is no “men’s work” or “women’s work.” There is only general “work”, available to be effectively performed by either male or female, eliminating most, if not all gender biases.

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