Women In STEM Club Discusses Intersectionality and Cybersecurity

by Daniel Zhang

The gender gap within the STEM field is a problem among several countries across the world. In a report from 2019 by the Catalyst, women accounted for only 27% of workers within the U.S. STEM industries, and 91% of women in STEM have admitted to experiencing discrimination throughout their careers.

To help solve this issue, Nisky junior students Ryana Sarcar, Samantha Cerezo, Amira Salem, sophomore Anina Ghosal, and freshman Eujeong Choi, officially created the first WiSTEM club at Nisky High on January 18th. Their stated goal is to “help women and gender-queer folks combat the gender gap in STEM education and the workforce by building an awareness of the diverse range of careers available in STEM fields, exposing club members to female mentors in a STEM field, and organizing initiatives to foster girls’ interest in STEM from childhood.”

During the first meeting, the officers went through a presentation on the gender gap in STEM and how the previous methods help close the gender gap. It addressed the origins of the issue that go back to grades as early as preschool, where parents give toys to children based on gender stereotypes. For example, boys were given workbench tools and girls were given cooking toys and dolls. This small yet impactful detail would lead to a difference in interests. This gap in interest then goes on to become noticeably widened in high school and continues throughout college/the workforce. By providing early exposure, STEM career awareness, and female STEM mentors, it then empowers and connects girls to the opportunities they can pursue within the field.

In the second meeting, the officers discussed cybersecurity and cryptography, techniques are used to protect your private information. One example is the Caesar Cipher, where a meaningless sequence of letters (that was actually encrypted) can be decrypted into a message using keys. For example, “qzudmbkzv” could be given with a key of 25. That message would then translate into “Ravenclaw” as the letters were shifted 25 letters forward in the alphabet.

As for the most recent meeting, in concert with Black History Month, the topic of conversation was black women in STEM. When the question, “Name black women that work in the STEM field” was asked, few members could give an answer. The presentation then went into why intersectionality, “the interconnection of race, class, an gender in regard to discrimination and disadvantages” creates this issue and several women who were vital in the STEM field, such as Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary W. Jackson from the movie and book Hidden Figures. These women were human computers (people who performed mathematical calculations by hand) for NASA. Due to segregation they were placed into a separate wing of NASA’s Langley Laboratory with the other black women. But eventually, these women climbed the ranks into positions where they were required to work with white men, an idea that was opposed during that time era. They made important calculations that played a big part in making John Glenn the first American to orbit the Earth. More recent women, like Moogega Cooper, were also discussed during the presentation. Moogega Cooper is the lead planetary engineer for the Mars 2020 rover mission. She’s responsible for ensuring that the hardware to Mars landed in a way that kept the spacecraft clean, their materials safe and sterilized, and disturbed the Martian environment as little as possible.

Their Google meets are held at 2:30 every other Thursday, and the club is always open to new members, stating that “Eradicating gender discrimination in STEM is a team effort and students of all genders are encouraged to join!” To join the remind, text @niskyw to 81010 and get notified about upcoming meetings.