So, although this article is fairly old, I have been discussing our class with my advisor and the topics we cover. Last week she had sent me an email about an article she came across and thought it might be useful for our course-
I thought it was perfect for what we’ve discussed in class, as well as ties to my field and final paper, and I wanted to share it with you all.
“The problems we face in the world are very complicated. Any one of us can get stuck. If we’re in an organization where everyone thinks in the same way, everyone will get stuck in the same place.” – Quoted in article
Eve Andrews, the author of this article titled How to be a science girl in a barbie world, discusses how women are fairly underrepresented in science fields. That under-representation is a problem in the face of climate change, which affects women in indigenous communities particularly. Andrews says:
“So the real question is: Why? In the age of affirmative action and more and more women in higher education, why are women going so underrepresented in scientific fields?” (Andrews, 2014).
She ties the answer into the production of toys. Yepp, that’s right. Toys. If anyone has seen a barbie doll, they could probably sense where this is going. She argues that gender roles could begin in childhood because of the sexism that toys generate. It was interesting to me that when she had interviewed women in the science field, they all said relatively the same thing. Sexist “attitudes” start “instantly.” One woman noted that she heard “don’t play with dinosaurs, play with princesses” often (Andrews, 2014).
A couple of people Andrews interviewed said they tried discussing those issues with their children, asking them:
“Rather than Barbie asking the boys for help with her program, what could she have done? What could she have tried to do, could she have tried to figure it out on her own?” (Andrews, 2014).
She also pointed out that teaching girls to be girly and boys to be masculine does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. However, she discusses how we should not have to teach our children to be only one thing, but maybe start helping them “recognize” various types of “thinking and problem-solving” (Andrews, 2014).
Source: https://grist.org/living/how-to-be-a-science-girl-in-a-barbie-world/