To talk about underrepresentation in higher education, is almost always to talk about ‘Women in STEM’.

An acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths; STEM supposedly represents the patriarchy’s sexist grasp on our educational system, where women are excluded.

On face value, there seems to be truth to it – women are, as often quoted, about 35% of STEM students in the UK.

But that is only until you look under the hood of what ‘STEM’ actually means…

Because biology is not STEM.

Medicine is not STEM.

Neuroscience, psychology, nursing, veterinary science… none are considered ‘STEM’… but all are clearly sciences.

Soon it becomes clear that our new understanding of ‘STEM’ is a carefully constructed political concept, where the sciences in which women dominate (such as biology) are excluded, and ironically considered lesser, while the sciences where men dominate, like physics and chemistry, become the sole focus of advocacy, and I assume ‘real science’.

But medicine, biology, and nursing are sciences, each noble and worthy of study, and each needing more men.

As unpopular as it is to say, when you look at the complete picture of STEM (as outlined by UCAS) including all the sciences, then women are not underrepresented.

In fact, there are more women studying STEM than men.

Meanwhile, the conversation of men falling out of university for decades, lagging behind at every level of education, and finding themselves underrepresented in two thirds of all degrees, remains an issue that is ignored, and uninteresting to the masses.

So where is the honest and complete discussion of equal representation in higher education?

Because STEM is not it.

What do you think?

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HESA Data https://tinyurl.com/4f2kxbnj
Definition of Stem (pg10) https://tinyurl.com/ydte2w7d

Men in HEAL positions https://tinyurl.com/4fsyz6c7

Images by Benjamin Lehman

Music Victoriya – Two Years

#fyp #stem #stemeducation #science

2024-03-06