On January 6, 2023, under the tree, wrapped with a red ribbon, the game Dixit lies in wait. I draw the following card. Associative intelligence is a curious thing. I think of Bécquer’s “Dark Swallows Will Return” (probably because I don’t often watch the documentaries on Channel 2, unlike 99% of those surveyed):

(…)But spellbound, speechless, kneeling low,

as saints before their altars are adored, (…)

What I see: The rigid and unquestionable truths. Genuflection to the science gods, now dressed in suits, flaunting power, without beards, but men. Caging the free-flying birds, free thought. “Science” is the word with which I describe this card.

LOAFERS STUDY LETTERS AND NERDS STUDY SCIENCES

I chose Science. My worst teachers were those who idolized formulas and the accumulation of Greek letters on blackboards in strings that seemed to never end, with the repetition of unintelligible mantras. They seemed to take a certain pleasure in being unintelligible. You take notes, copy notes, ask for notes, and repeat exercises that have already been solved. I was one of those students who didn’t even understand what a derivative was before memorizing how to do it. If I asked you to raise your hand if you were in the same boat as me, I’d bet my 3 points earned in Dixit that, if you’re reading this magazine, you would.

Why do we go and sit at the desk the next day? That would be a great trivia question. Is it the price to pay for getting the lab coat and the dream of ideation, even if you’re lacking the tools? That, or is it the cult of effort? Because everyone knows that loafers study letters and nerds study sciences. That was one of the conclusions on stereotypes yielded by a qualitative study directed by Mercedes López Sáez, a professor of Sociology at Spain’s National University of Distance Education between 2003 and 2007.

WHAT IF WE WOMEN STARTED TO SEE OURSELVES IN STEM ROLES MORE?

More facts: The various studies on perceptions of gender in STEM careers show that gender stereotypes associated with mathematics are more pronounced among women. Those females who have opted for a STEM branch with rich in mathematical content find it difficult to associate the sciences they studied with themselves.

In 2006, being interested in Physics put your self-identification with the female gender in danger (Kessels et al., 2006). In fact, the female gender was strongly associated with traits such as soft, playful, poignant, full of dreams, indulgent, fragile and flexible. The semantic traits associated with Mathematics and Physics included attributes such as tough, serious, distant, sober, strict, robust and rigid.

We women stay on the sidelines, waiting for the Taylor Series to go on and on to infinity, which is where errors for adjustments based on statistics and averages are minimized - where the woman apparently enters the game, in the marginal calculations. How do we think up new things without dreaming? How do we persevere in creation without flexibility, without questioning dogmas?

LET’S HIGHLIGHT THE ‘A’ FOR “ART” IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES

What ever happened to Athena, the goddess of wisdom? Maybe she’s using that same Greek alphabet as my teachers, but in a symposium on Strategy or Engineering, doing so more ARTistically than my university professor to captivate students yearning to cultivate their design abilities. That is my own stereotype of the communicative, pedagogical, empathic, generous, and courageous woman.

I challenge you: travel to 1957, with your Taboo game in hand, and dare to try your luck with the card that says “Apollo” (the God of music and poetry). Look for adjectives without being disrespectful. I pray for 2022 and its successors; for change. Because letters, beauty, and melody – whether they have a beard (or not) – are sure of their identity.

The top of the stem was missing, the ‘A’ for “ART,” to give the concept transcendence and humanity. To express with music and grace a vision of the world formulated from the point of view of Mathematics, Engineering, and Physics. To escape from a sullen seriousness that distances, segregates, and marginalizes the beardless and the entertaining. “Relations of trust play an epistemic role in science, and it is necessary to appreciate the part that communities play in guaranteeing the trustworthiness of scientific testimony” (Gender and Trust in Science, Kristina Rolin. Hypatia, Vol. 14, No. 4). Diverse communities that are rich in both perspectives and capabilities. The mathematician George Pólya once said, “It’s better to solve one problem five different ways than to solve five problems one way.” STEAM brings us closer to those five ways. The unquestionable truths of that university blackboard confine me to repeating the method to get the answer as if I were a parrot, learning by heart. I wish.

FROM STEM TO STEAM

STEAM uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics as anchors to guide research, dialogue, and critical thinking. This added ‘A’ allows for an open space with a more multifaceted approach to the STEM disciplines, and integrates them into a body of knowledge that has a social dimension.

The search for wonder, for answers – like the intersection between the Arts and Sciences. Cynthia Barnett wrote the following in “The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans” (Norton and Company, 2022): “Molluscs are the second-largest group of animals behind arthropods – which include insects – and they are scooting and flipping and scooching all over the world, from the deepest parts of the ocean to the highest mountain peaks. But seashells were money before coins, jewelry before gems, art before canvas… Seashells are the earliest-known keepsakes tucked into graves… Seashells have often been messages – to scientists, to diviners, to worshipers called together by the voice of a shell.” They immerse us in a social, aesthetic, political, and economic dimension of wonder and investigation.

The poetics of curiosity, knowledge, and mystery will arise if we follow Erwin Chargaff in his observations:

“It is hoped that our road will lead to understanding; mostly, it leads only to explanations. The difference between these two terms is also being forgotten… These are two very different things, for we understand very little about nature.”

WOMEN AND SCIENCE

How does this tie in with women and science? In a study published in 2001, Morgan, Isaac, and Sansone (“The Role of Interest in Understanding the Career Choices of Female and Male College Students,” Sex Roles, 44) found that students perceive STEM careers as less connected to humanitarian ideals, yet beneficial in that people with these studies obtain higher pay and status compared to those who study for other degrees.

When choosing a degree, women tend to gravitate towards professions more focused on social purposes and their interpersonal goals (Lackland & De Lisi, 2001). Therefore, the impression that STEM fields are not associated with these goals may be one reason why women tend to shy away from them. Is there no social purpose in any application for derivatives? Who does science serve?

In the compilation entitled

“Dear Professor Einstein: Albert Einstein’s Letters to and from Children”

(Alice Calaprice, GEDISA 2003), I found an exchange between Einstein and a brilliant and witty South African girl named Tiffany. In a 1946 letter, Tiffany wrote:

“I forgot to tell you, in my last letter, that I was a girl. I mean I am a girl. (…) I hope you will not think any the less of me for being a girl!”

Einstein’s answer could not have been more brilliant:

“I do not mind that you are a girl, but the main thing is that you yourself do not mind. There is no reason for it.”

However, sometimes people do mind, and usually there are reasons for this.

SO, YOU STUDIED LETTERS, RIGHT?

This brings back an unpleasant memory. In 2015, when I was about to present my thesis, someone asked me in a café:

“You mean you don’t work in PR?”

Glowering, I adopted a Christopher Lee-in-vampire-attire-looking-for-blood look.

“Since you’re dressed so cute.…”

I should’ve said “no” to the laser clinic’s hair removal offer. Without a bushy beard, who am I going to convince?

If you don’t want to give me the lab coat, then I don’t want your cold lab. We both lose: you continue with the pent-up stereotypes, and I continue wondering what ever happened to Athena. And, at this rate:

“to hell with steam, electricity, and IV fluids,”

as Miguel de Unamuno wrote.

So, I think being a bit of an outsider (aren’t women in Science always sort of outsiders?) can also be an advantage. Like the beauty of the outlier in statistics. Just help me remove the “out” prefix, because I want to be “in.”