A few weeks back, I bought an issue of Glamour for my occasional fix of girly-brain candy. I came across this article. My first thought was "Cool! They are going to actually address this issue about girls in STEM." After reading the article, I do have some critiques, since the article does not address the REAL issue.
The article concentrates on computer science only. Now, nothing against computer science, but STEM is the WIDE field that incorporates more than you can imagine. There was no talk about the ground-breaking work in other fields.
It concentrates on women in management and entrepreneurial roles. Again, there's not a problem with these roles. However, management isn't for everyone. Neither is entrepreneurial-ship. I think we should encourage these, but we need to get down to the basics- How do women gain the skills to take on these roles? Through STEM degrees!
The "Hang In!" section completely dismisses the whole reason behind STEM. Most of this article is about money and power. They talk about how a women's salary in STEM is 33% higher. Sure, it's important. But why am I really spending countless hours in the computer lab to finish my homework? The reason is WAY beyond the money.
Programming can be a huge turn-off to some people. To be honest, I don't enjoy programming very much. I do it when it makes my life a whole lot easier, but I don't go around creating new iPhone apps or anything like that. If I would have read this article when I was a freshman in college, I would have been very scared. It isn't all about programming, and Glamour makes it seem like it is.
I like the work that Glamour is doing to try to promote girl power, but the article completely dismisses anything outside of computer science. STEM is much more revolutionary in many different fields. Sure, computer development is VERY big right now. However, politics show that it goes beyond that. Take a look at Energy politics for an example; there aren't too many computer scientists in that.
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