Breaking the Glass Ceiling in STEM
WHAT IS A GLASS CEILING?
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word physicist? What about a programmer? For a physicist, you must have pictured a quirky male scientist with crazy hair, and for a programmer - a geek with thick glasses fixated on the computer screen. These are merely stereotypes, but more importantly, most of you must have visualised just male, just a plain male. Have you ever tried to visualise a female physicist? A Hispanic programmer? An autistic oceanographer? A black oncologist? Most probably not.
Have any of you seen such people at higher level jobs? They are pretty rare at the higher level of the hierarchy pyramid of any field. So, what is stopping them? If you ask any female, a person of colour or a person with a disability/a disabled person, they would tell you that the 'glass ceiling' is blocking them. What is a glass ceiling?
Glass Ceiling Effect
glass ceiling
noun
an unacknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities. "the first female to break through the glass ceiling in Engineering"
This is the Oxford dictionary definition of a glass ceiling. This phrase has been in use since the late 1970s and was coined by the author Marilyn Loden. In short, it is an invisible barrier for minority groups and females that often stop them from pursuing their higher goals. This effect is prominently seen in the male-dominated fields in STEM, such as the technical fields, Mathematics and Physics. Though there has recently been an improvement, especially in the biological sciences, the odds are still piled up against them.
These barriers are often difficult to detect due to the invisible rules in workplaces which are built on biases. Why do they exist? Most people believe that minorities and mostly women are expected to be soft-spoken, polite, and non-assertive. However, the assertive, strong, and 'bossy' ones are mostly considered defiant and rebellious. Therefore, rather than being encouraged and promoted, they are often discriminated against. They can be paid less or fired just because of their gender, minority status, or disability. Most women face the motherhood penalty where they are paid less, often not promoted, less likely to get a raise if they have children. The third reason is sexual harassment at the workplace, due to which many quit their jobs.
How can you break the glass ceiling? It shouldn't hold you back from pursuing your ambitions. The first advice would be to create your opportunities. If you can't find something, create. You should also advocate for yourself. Talk about this with other people and create awareness. If you are currently working and facing this, you should also expand your network. This way, we believe we can not just break the glass ceiling, we can also shatter it.
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