RWS 1302 Reflection

I have spent this semester learning more about women in oceanography. During my genre
analysis, I learned just how recently women had been permitted to participate in research expeditions. I
was shocked to find out that less than 60 years ago, women were not allowed on a U.S. oceanographic
vessel. For one of my genres, I chose a lecture that was presented at one of the premier oceanographic
institutions in the world. I did not check the year the lecture was given before I watched it. The complete
obliviousness to women in the field was shocking, from the language that was used to the images that
were shown. At the end, I assumed it must have been given in the early 1980s. I was wrong. It was from
2009. Even being aware of the historical gender discrimination in the field, I did not realize how
pervasive it is currently.
The literature review proved to be very enlightening. On a positive note, I was very proud to see
that many of the trail-blazing women in oceanographic research were geophysicists, which is my major. I
expected there to be more coming from biological oceanography since biology has a higher percentage of
women in all positions compared to the physical scientists. During my research, I came across a book
about the history of geophysics. Hoping to use it as a reference, I began looking through it. There was not
a single female scientist in the book. No pictures, not one listed in the achievements in the field, and not
one listed in the many interviews. I was astounded that this book was published in 2012. One of the other
disappointing things I encountered was the lack of research about gender bias past 2005. There seemed to
be a push from 1999-2005 to analyze the problem, especially in geosciences. After that, it dries up. There
will not be gender equality if we stop trying to understand what is happening. It was very concerning to
see.
My group project was a documentary on gender-based harassment and discrimination in the
STEM fields. Group projects always make me a bit nervous, but I really enjoyed my group. I think
everyone was shocked at all the stories we got about specific incidents of harassment. The thing that
surprised me the most was how professors would dismiss it as not that bad and then proceed to tell story
after story. There was always a realization at the end that it is, in fact, that bad.

Overall, I really enjoyed the course and the process. I am a feminist and a woman in STEM; I
thought that I would not be surprised by what I found. Instead, I learned that gender bias runs much
deeper than I thought, especially in the career field I want to enter.