NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins is at the forefront of a new crop of space explorers destined for the moon and maybe one day Mars.
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Why Don’t People Care That More Men Don’t Choose Caregiving Professions?
Scott Barry Kaufman /
Scientific American
People attribute the lack of women in STEM fields to external factors but attribute the lack of men in helping professions to internal ones.
It’s Time for a World without Gender
Daphna Joel /
Scientific American
How fundamental are sex categories? Do humans “naturally” belong to one of two groups, female or male, that are distinct not only in the form of their genitals but also in their brains and behavior? For about 1 percent of humans, answering this question in the affirmative leads to a great deal of physical and emotional pain. These are people born with intersex genitals; for them, being forced to fit into one of two sex categories often means facing ostracism or undergoing medically unnecessary surgeries. But what about all the others? Do humans with female and male genitals belong to two distinct classes?
The Pitfalls of Data’s Gender Gap
Sophie Bushwick /
Scientific American
Researchers in fields from medicine to transportation fail to collect data on women, and this affects aspects of daily life in the home, the workplace and everywhere in between, with results that range from inconvenient to deadly. For example, vehicle safety systems designed and tested based on the default male will not necessarily protect female bodies. Indeed, in a car crash, women are 17 percent more likely to die and 47 percent more likely to experience serious injury than men are.
What Happens When You Read Science Writing by Women
Josie Glausiusz /
Scientific American
Can a Woman Sound Presidential?
Jennifer Sclafani /
Scientific American
The conventional language of power, when it comes out of a woman’s mouth, is often described as sounding “bossy,” “shrill” or “bitchy.” These impressions are so ingrained, in the minds of both women and men, because we are socialized into them from a very young age. It’s an integral part of what sociologists call the “gender order.”
Harsh Nazi Parenting Guidelines May Still Affect German Children of Today
Anne Kratzer /
Scientific American
Johanna Haarer, a physician whose books were written during the Nazi era and aimed at raising children to serve the Führer, viewed children, especially babies, as nuisances whose wills needed to be broken. “The child is to be fed, bathed, and dried off; apart from that left completely alone,” she counseled. She recommended that children be isolated for 24 hours after the birth; instead of using “insipid-distorted ‘children’s language,’” the mother should speak to her child only in “sensible German”; and if the child cries, let him cry.
Does Your Language Influence How You Think?
Mignon Fogarty /
Scientific American
So which is it? Can the language you speak influence your thoughts, or can’t it? The short answer is: Yes it can, but it’s not the kind of mind-blowing influence that people usually have in mind.
Why Are There So Few Female Leaders?
Matthew Hutson /
Scientific American
Science Career Ads Are Disproportionately Seen by Men
Dina Fine Maron /
Scientific American
Women see fewer advertisements about entering into science and technology professions than men do. But it’s not because companies are preferentially targeting men—rather it appears to result from the economics of ad sales.
How to Find a Woman Scientist
Katarzyna Nowak /
Scientific American
Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a grassroots organization called 500 Women Scientists was established to help propel and maintain the momentum of such efforts. Its founders and members pledged to speak up for science and for women. They would do this by boosting scientific literacy through public engagement, strengthening the role of science in society, and changing the face of what a scientist looks like. More than 20,000 people, mostly women but also a couple thousand men, signed the pledge.