To stand out as scientists, women stand up against prejudice and taboos

There are more women (57%) than men (43%) pursuing a university degree in Brazil, according to the latest Census on Higher Education, conducted in 2012 by the National Institute of Studies and Surveys on Education (INEP). The situation is reversed when we look at figures on the sciences like mathematics, computing, and engineering. In these fields, men outnumber women everywhere in the country.

In the view of Professor Lourdes Bandeira at the University of Brasília (UnB) Institute of Social Sciences, the explanation for women's low participation rate in the scientific milieu lies in the very essence of science. “The qualities of the sciences, engineering, and mathematics were based on masculine characteristics like objectivity, force, and dexterity. This ideal creates a sort of 'reverse pyramid' where women make up the majority in care-related activities, like nursing, nutrition, pedagogy, and social work, and a minority in fields like technology, mathematics, and engineering.”

Figures reflect the striking picture of the universities throughout Brazil. According to UnB Computing Engineering Professor Aletéia Favacho de Araújo, no female student enrolled in the 2014 class. She believes the shortage of women may lead to two problems: women are discouraged from becoming involved, and prejudice builds up against those who do come into the field.

Professor Favacho, Adriana Pereira Ibaldo, from the UnB Physics Department and engineering student Bárbara Xavier told Agência Brasil that women in sciences face distrust from their colleagues, the obligation to conciliate household chores with work and challenges developing in an environment where they form a minority.

Setbacks in computing

Professor Favacho has the chance to witness the inequality between men and women in her field on a daily basis. “On a certain occasion, a freshwoman came to the classroom door and asked if the class was a computer engineering class. The students answered saying it was, but added: 'It's not your class, though. Don't you have any laundry to do at home?' She walked off in tears,” the professor recounts.

To her judgement, computing has seen major setbacks with regards to women's participation. “When I was an undergrad student [in the 90's], there were 18 of us in a class of 40. Today, I sometimes teach classes with no women at all. The average is that of two women for every 30 male students. Those who join the class tend to pull themselves away from their colleagues. This can also be harmful to their education,” she argues. As a student, Favacho remembers she had to break taboos to keep pursuing her degree.

“Both as an undergrad and later on in my master's, I actually suffered little prejudice. But in PhD, we had a professor ask us to write this little program. There were five of us and I suggested we did it together. A young man said he wouldn't do it because I was a girl. I had to hold back tears. I got to do the assignment with another guy, and our work was better. 'Let's do it together now,' they'd say. 'You're boys. I don't do work with boys,' I'd tell them.”

A mother of two (a seven-year old girl and a one-year-old boy), the university professor believes that parenting can help change this scenario in the future. “Girls should be encouraged to play with Lego and to enjoy math. But what's seen as girl stuff today? Taking care of the home? She's not supposed to like mathematics? Why don't fathers play with their daughters the same way they do with their sons? Only this can make a change in people's mindset.”

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira