If you read Amber Roberts ' Twitter bio , it ’s clear she has an impressive resume : AI program director , astrophysicist , science communicator , auto determine engineer , and ( significantly ) chocolate connoisseur . Well , recently she tweeted and it went viral – but , sadly , for all the unseasonable reason .
On Thursday , she took to societal media to tell her following of an incident she experienced at an airdrome involving a random guy necessitate her why she needs two laptops .
Many ( quite evenhandedly ) intimate the gentleman was but funny about her pauperization for two laptops and would have asked her why regardless of whether she was male or distaff . But , as a Twitter exploiter point out , something as simple as the tone of the question can propose a hidden ( and sometimes not - so - hidden ) prejudice .
And it might be worth mentioning , while manyassumedRoberts was being oversensitive , many alsoassumedthe " random guy " was , in fact , a surety functionary . He was not .
Many responses were more positive , praise Roberts or offer uptheir own similar experience – and several men jumped in to say that even though they often carry around several phone , tablets , and laptop for work purposes , they themselves had never been call for about it .
Isolated stories of microaggressions such as these aside , studies and surveysshow that woman are not only grossly outnumber in STEM profession but they face great discrimination and experience importantly more incidents ofsexual assaultthan men in the same careers ( particularlyif they are char of vividness . ) A recent resume from thePew Research Centerfound that half of all women in STEM jobs have faced discrimination at workplace ( in contrast to 19 percent of men ) , whether that’searning lessthan their manly vis-a-vis ( 29 pct ) , being process as less competent than their male opposite number ( 29 pct ) , or experiencing less support than male counterparts ( 18 percent ) .
One bailiwick , release in the journalPeerJin 2016 , is particularly shed light on when it total to stereotype about gender and scientists . Despite being comprehend as better coderswhen gender is anonymized , women are automatically learn as less capable as soon as gender is disclosed – a depressing fact actress , model , andprogrammerLyndsey Scottis no doubt well cognizant of .
It appears that this biasstarts at an early old age , withgirls as untried as sixbelieving brilliance , exceptional talent , and maven are male traits . And it is perhaps not so surprising these stereotypes still exist when you remember that untilDonna Stricklandthis year , a adult female had n’t been awarded the Nobel Prize for natural philosophy for 55 days .
And while Roberts ' incident may go inconsequent in the grand schema of things – or in her words , " no with child deal " – if they are not channelize out , the cycle will in all probability continue , perpetuating negative stereotype about women in scientific discipline .
