Mia Mathew

The media has long shaped social norms and stereotypes, and social media is now amplifying that influence. For decades, this has made it harder to encourage women in STEM. Think back to almost any popular scripted TV show or sitcom. The nerdy character is a familiar cliché: he dresses badly, has no friends, is always studying and is painfully socially awkward. The trope is especially damaging when this character is a boy who can’t talk to girls, as though girls are obviously not interested in...

It all starts when a little girl is given a doll while a little boy is given a toolbox, and they are told to only stick with those paths. Gender based discrimination in the workplace is still a pressing issue today, especially in the male dominated STEM fields. However, gender expectations happen much further back than the workforce, they start in the minds of young children. It has been a common stereotype that girls are somehow less adapted to the STEM field than boys are, and so girls are...