Today we aim to address the state of the union as we see it, as two women of Tech. While women might have the right to vote, open a credit card and become a girlboss CEO, that does not mean women are truly equal on all fronts.
Women may be able to run for president, but they still cannot win.
Women may be able to run for president, but only so long as a white man grants her permission.
But, running for president is not at the top of every woman’s agenda. More likely, it is caring for those around her, going to work or school and hopefully finding time for herself at the end of the day. Often, she is doing hours of unseen and unpaid labor, whether she is her boyfriend’s pseudo-therapist or doing the work that her male counterparts ought to be doing. The ideal woman today is simultaneously the patient homemaker and a financial provider, creating a standard that no single person can live up to.
Here, at Tech, she must be a star student and the perfect job candidate, while being fun, pretty, easy-going and interesting so that she can make friends and find a romantic partner. She must be incredibly intelligent, but without making anyone else feel intimidated. She must be confident and capable, but silent and humble throughout it all.
Women may be able to study engineering, but they may experience imposter syndrome and doubt themselves every step of the way.
Women may be able to study engineering, but they still cannot make up half of the Institute’s student body.
Despite all the challenges we face, Tech women are, above all else, intelligent, creative and resilient. It is clear in our history.
In the early days of the Institute, admission was only granted to men. In 1952, white women were allowed to enroll in undergraduate programs, only if the program was not offered at other schools. By 1968, all women, including women of color, were allowed to enroll in all programs at the Institute.
In March of 1947, on the topic of potentially admitting women to Tech, Martin L. Gurskey wrote for the Technique that he hoped “the powers that be [would] forbid it.” He continued, saying that it would “lower our noble institution to the gutters.” He finished his rampage against women by saying that female students would “never recover from the shock” of the “impossible criteria” set by professors.
Less than 80 years ago, male students on campus felt it would be far below their dignity to study alongside female students. They thought the mere presence of women would cheapen their own education.
Today, women make up 58% of higher education, but only 39% of Tech’s undergraduates.
Those 80 years at Tech have brought unprecedented social changes, from making all majors accessible to everyone to electing the first female Wreck driver in the 21st century, yet the ghosts of the past continue to haunt the halls of our Institute.
Women remain a minority group at Tech, never having been more than 50% of the student population. If this disparity is not clear in class, it is certainly clear as one navigates campus, seeing the 8 CPC sororities in stark contrast to the 31 IFC fraternities on campus. This contrast creates a social power imbalance in Greek life —– fraternities are freely able to hold social events in their houses while sororities must jump through hoops to even hold philanthropy events in their own spaces.
Social power imbalances exist beyond Greek life and extend into the rest of campus. Women are unable to move around parts of campus freely without fear for their safety. Tech Square and West Midtown, in particular, are areas where people routinely harass female students.
Many spaces on campus remain male-dominated, from classrooms to the weight room at the CRC, and it is a fact that can never be truly forgotten for female students. You will always notice when you are one of a handful of female students in a full lecture hall or the only girl on the grocery bus.
Though there often is a sense of comradery among the few women in class or, there can be a sense of competition. In a male-dominated space, people often tokenize women, reducing them to an emblem of diversity and acceptance, so long as that woman fulfills expectations of perfection and agreeability placed upon them.
Being the “best” woman, whether that means getting the highest grades or being the most likable, is crucial to acceptance from male peers. Acceptance from male peers is crucial to successfully navigating male-dominated spaces, be it in the classroom or the work place. Acceptance is often contingent upon making one’s self as small and undemanding as possible in order to fit into the narrow expectations of what a woman in STEM is supposed to be — a beautiful genius who works silently in the background.
This is what the world expects women to be: ornamental and helpful, but silent. In an increasingly polarized country and world, silence is complacency. Take up the space you deserve and speak your piece.
Do not be the most acceptable woman: be the most exceptional one.