Henry Etzkowitz wrote in his book, “Athena Unbound,” about the statistics he came across, concerning minority women with STEM careers (2000). Columbia, India and the Philippines are one of the many developing countries, who employ a higher proportion of female university employees (in the Math department) more than any other place in the world (2000).
I’ve had a year of university coursework before
I migrated to the US, and based on my limited experience, a great majority of
my Math teachers were female. And as if to overcompensate for gender bias, my
female Math teachers were unforgiving, and gave rigorous exams as opposed to
the more ‘relaxed’ approach of the very few male Math teachers.
Gender-based achievement was less emphasized as
well. The consensus, collectively-speaking, was everybody needed to get a
STEM-based career, no questions asked. Boys and girls were all trained
vigorously in STEM classes and coursework. There were very few who didn’t buy
in to the STEM ideology, such as me, of course. We had required Pre-Calculus
and Analytic Geometry classes in HS, and I regret to say I don’t know how I
passed the classes, other than the fact that my teachers felt bad for me and
gave me a passing grade.
The sad truth was, no matter how talented of a
STEM student was (in the Philippines), well-paid STEM careers are practically a
myth. And when they migrate to the US, the crushing pressure to provide for the
family derailed everybody’s STEM careers, or at least their STEM education.
Women, of course, were especially vulnerable. I was never a STEM student, but
my own college education was derailed to help the family. When once we were all
forced into STEM careers, the strain was alleviated; only to be replaced with
the pressure to take low-paying, soul-crushing labor in the healthcare field.
I’ve lost track of how many girls and women I
know who migrated to the US and ended up working as a Certified Nursing
Assistant. This job, for the uninformed, is a glorified cleaning lady job. The pay is terrible, and the hours and working
conditions are worse. I know, because I went from a published poet and
journalist in the Philippines, to a C.N.A. my first year in the US.
But the ignorance surrounding it is even more
debilitating, more so than anybody could fathom. The ideology that any STEM-job
is a good job crushes everybody’s potential. I have a friend who graduated with
a Civil Engineering degree from the UW, and he truly believes that his job at
the Amazon warehouse is a “good job” because it’s a Tech company. The ideology
has always been a STEM-job trumps any other kind of job; whereas my job in an
organic food store is a “bad job,” despite my excellent benefits, extravagant
pay raises and upward mobility, because it’s not STEM-based employment.
Nothing kills ambition and potential more than a
tainted ideology that’s been re-gifted and passed on to the next generation. For
decades, Filipinos have been herded into STEM jobs as if we had no control over
our careers and our personal fulfillment. Its concealed slave labor—the legacy of
the Spaniards, Americans and the Japanese who brainwashed our community into
believing we’re meant for offal, and not the rich fatty tenderloin steak.
I suppose there isn’t much hope in convincing
millions of people to pursue their true passions, and there isn’t a huge market
for intellectuals in a society that despises intelligence. Everywhere we go, we
are programmed to satisfy our visceral and basic desires and disregard our
cerebral and holistic selves. The take-away from this learning contract is to
embrace my intellectual self, and even aspire for an intellectual life—if only
to prove and exemplify that people aren’t disposable and replaceable, even in
the new economy.
Reference
Etzkowitz, Henry, Carol Kemelgor and Brian Uzzi.
Athena Unbound: The Advancement of Women
in Science and Technology. Cambridge University Press: 2000. Print.
Kincaid, Jamaica. A Small Place. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux: 2000. Print.
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