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Arely Alvarez

Professor Batty

English 101

27 March 2019

Calling Out for Women In STEM

At Los Angeles Valley College, females make up more of the population than males, and

yet, there is significantly less females in the STEM population. Through the course of time, the

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) has been a male-dominated field resulting

in there being a lack of female student representation in STEM. Having a mentorship program to

guide and encourage female STEM students will greatly benefit them and the community.

Although there is a STEM program, there is not one focusing solely on female STEM students.

Los Angeles Valley College has to put in more effort to this needed small population. Having a

mentorship program here at Los Angeles Valley College would improve the success of females

students in the difficult STEM field, despite the existing STEM program.

There is a lack of representation of females in the overall STEM field. Unfortunately, when

people think of doctors or astrophysicist, they often associate the job with a man. As people

move past this stigma of having men at the forefront of STEM fields, the hurdles that women

have to face while going through these unchartered waters are being noted. In an interview with

the STEM counselor Kassidy Miller, conducted by Arely Alvarez, Miller says “Many women in

STEM feel as if they are isolated and alone.” They feel like they have no one pushing them or

guiding them - that feeling of being on their own is intimidating. There are women in history that

have been hidden from textbooks that have done amazing things. In an article by Lindsay
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Rohland in the Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia about Katherine Johnson, Johnson

“...work[ed] as a "human computer" for NASA in the 1950s and 1960s, Katherine Johnson

performed calculations for missions that sent an astronaut into orbit around Earth and

successfully landed humans on the moon” (Rohland). Johnson had an extremely important job in

NASA, since her calculations where vital in keeping those astronauts alive. Yet, she was

forgotten in both history books and textbooks. Her story was not told until nearly seventy-six

years later in 2016, when the movie ​Hidden Figures surfaced, which sparked up conversations of

her amazing work and angered many on how long it took for us to hear her story. There are many

more stories of women in STEM that are lost in a male-dominated field.

Like many college students, I can speak from experience in that I also did not know where

to start in my STEM career. My major, Psychology, is in a gray area where it can be considered

either Humanities or STEM. Without a guided path, I would have been lost and not have known

what classes to take. Yet, I do not have an understanding in what direction I should go other than

what courses to take. And while there are counselors to help find classes and to tell us that there

are internships, counselors often hand over a list but give no further specific guidance. This also

leads students to question what internships would better suit their needs or questions like “Is

there someone I could talk to that has the job I am considering?” Counselors do a great job, but

they can only help part of the way. Having a STEM mentorship for women would greatly benefit

not just me, but others going through what I am going through. A STEM mentorship program

could grow further and help more students; not just female STEM students. Female STEM

students need more guidance through these thick woods, and having a mentorship program

would clear the path and benefit the whole STEM community.
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I do acknowledge that there are programs at Los Angeles Valley College that help its

STEM students. The STEM program at Valley is called PASO (Promoting Awareness of STEM

Opportunities), and its focus is on the overall STEM community. PASO has STEM-related

events like Pi Day, for example. Miller also says that when it comes to counseling appointments,

“The amount of males and females are about the same,” meaning the STEM community at Los

Angeles Valley college is not well represented in just the amount of students that go to counselor

Miller for guidance (Miller). Or, it could also give insight that many female STEM students are

not looking for help or guidance. Many students feel as if they don’t need to see a counselor for

help, they feel like they can do it on their own. It would only lead to a waste of money if a

mentoring program just for women were to be created. A waste of resources that could be used to

help a more needed population. Another example showing that we have good STEM diversity at

LAVC is an event that PASO had. “Women in STEM” panel, there was a panel of professional

women in the STEM field that answered questions and gave advice. The turnout for the event

was large, and again, the amount of males and females was about the same. Some may say that

we have good diversity in our STEM department.

Although the turnouts for events and counseling appointment are about the same. It does not

account for the number of students who don’t go to events or go to counselor Miller for

counseling. When we look at the data, in the “population there are 57.28% of women and

47.72% of men” (LAVC). Women are the majority group on campus, and yet the minority group

in the STEM department. Females in the stem department “make up less than 30%” (Miller) of

the population. Although there is a push, it is not enough to make a significant change.

Females are more social and work best in groups. In an article titled “Female Peers in
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Small Work Groups Enhance Women's Motivation, Verbal Participation, and Career Aspirations

in Engineering,” by Nilanjana Dasgupta, Melissa McManus Scircle, and Matthew Hunsingerc,

the authors state that “Women participate more actively in engineering groups when members

are mostly female vs. mostly male or in equal gender proportions,” females feel less intimidated

with other females. Like in the workplace, the lack of females in each classroom affect their

participation, and females can feel isolated and/or intimidated by other male classmates. It is

human nature that, when there aren’t others that look like them, they feel as if they do not

belong, and this will cause students to drop out of classes since they do not feel like they belong.

This gives women the feeling like they can not do it, when in fact, they can. By having a

mentorship program guiding female STEM students, they will see others that look like them. It

will create a movement that would raise the female STEM demographic.

In summary, having a mentorship program guiding female STEM students would benefit Los

Angeles Valley College. It would also give Valley a more appealing look by making it more

welcoming to female STEM students. Since more women in STEM are needed, a mentorship

program would help lessen the gender gap in the STEM field. Times are changing, and the world

is changing and adapting. The biggest changes start with education; with its students. It is time

for Los Angeles Valley College to be part of the growing movement and push for mentorships

for women in STEM.

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Works Cited

Dasgupta, Nilanjana, et al. “Female Peers in Small Work Groups Enhance Women's Motivation,

Verbal Participation, and Career Aspirations in Engineering.” ​Proceedings of the

National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America​, National Academy of

Sciences, 21 Apr. 2015, ​www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4413283/​.

“LAVC Student Profile.” ​Los Angeles Valley College,​ lavc.edu/research/FB.aspx.

Miller, Kassidy. Personal interview. 20 Feb. 2019.

Rohland, Lindsay. “Katherine Johnson.” ​Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia,​ 2017.

EBSCOhost​,​library.lavc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tru

e&db=ers&AN=125600082&site=eds-live.