California Institute of Technology: a Garden of Eden
for innovation in science and engineering. They have an amazing alumni network
with 34 Nobel Prize winners and 71 winners of the US National Medal of Science
or Technology. Not to mention, it is frequently mentioned in the media: Leonard
and Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory
are physicists at Caltech and Ocean’s eleven stole an electromagnetic
pulse generator from the institute. However, the campus is the epitome of a
gendered space—41% of undergraduates and only 29% of graduate students are
women. Compared to Oberlin College that was coed since 1833, Caltech only decided
to admit women since 1970!
What accounts for this disparity? From
birth girls are given dolls and mini kitchens and guys are given blocks—toys that
require more logic and engenders a passion for engineering. Naturally, women
are not pushed to pursue careers in engineering (math, physics, etc.); it
becomes this self-fulfilling prophecy: girls are told that they are bad at math
and that they are more creative, leading to more “normal” professions such as
fashion designers, writers, models. I still remember when I was little how my
Dad told me to watch him do an oil change to gain practical skills in the
future. However, both my sisters—although they were not interested in the first
place—were not forced to observe. These experiences, universal to all cultures,
breed a society that scoffs at women who try to pursue careers outside of the
norm.
After years of being pushed towards
other pursuits, girls pursue other passions, and Caltech finds itself with an extremely skewed gender ratio. But
it is not just a matter of the statistics. I know two senior girls who have
visited and applied to these schools who have felt that the community is very
divided. Simply being a girl is an anomaly, which hinders women from realizing
their full potential. Of course, the school has initiatives to help lessen the
disparities, but these glaring differences still persist on campus. Caltech
becomes a Mecca for aspiring male engineers with a few female students who have
the courage to break all social standards; it presents itself as an obstacle
rather than an accepting community for women. To truly get rid of the gendered
standard requires an ideological shift and removal of all disparities of opportunities
from boys and girls.
This was really well-written and I specifically like how you employed allusions! This topic is obviously very prevalent in our lives, as college admissions are nearing, but the disparities are made out to be so "normal" that they aren't discussed nearly enough—in fact I didn't even make the connection between college and gendered spaces until I read this! Great job :)
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post! I really liked how you implemented the "Garden of Eden" allusion into your introduction and your personal anecdote made your blog quite appealing. I hope Caltech and other universities start breaking these gender barriers as it inhibits the difference one can make in this world. Looking forward to more posts!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing post! You did a great job explaining how Caltech has a very unequal man to women ratio. Your use of allusions and the brief anecdote really helped you obtain an unique style. You even established your claim very clearly in this post.
ReplyDeleteCalTech only accepts 520 people, right? So the difference between the number of men and number of women is relatively small compared to other schools, but relatively high percentage wise. I wish you would have talked about how highly selective the school is for both men and women, and then gotten into how unequal that selection process is. I did enjoy reading this piece though, and thought it was deeply insightful.
ReplyDeleteIt is strange to think about how colleges are still divided into male dominated ones are female dominated ones based on the major and the type of education they provide. However, your anecdote about the two senior girls seems to prove that those divisions are slowly but surely disappearing.
ReplyDeleteNice post Richard!! I especially liked how you started the post, through interesting facts and allusions. Then, you managed to steer your focus towards the heart of your post.
ReplyDelete