Will Space Barbie launch more women into science?
It’s a problem that’s been identified across the globe- inspiring girls into careers in science and technology. Nanotechnology in particular covers a range of sciences where women have traditionally been under-represented such as the physical and computer sciences. It’s one of the questions that always puzzled me as a science undergraduate- where DO all the women in science go, there appears to be plenty around in undergraduate and at early-career stages, but at the higher levels all the senior researcher, lab head and professorship positions definitely seemed to be filled by more men than women.
So what’s going on? Is the problem in encouraging girls in school to take more of an interest in science, engineering and technology subjects? As someone working in this area, I think that encouraging all students to take a more active interest in science subjects is beneficial (of course, I would think that), but it was interesting at one workshop I went to which was based on computer science for year 9 girls, in which the initial response from a table of girls was that the workshop had been too much ‘for boys’.
I don’t think that the latest doll released over at Mattel- Space Barbie, is the answer. Do girls still even play with Barbie? I thought it was all Bratz these days (and even then only for the under-10s?) Even if they do, I don’t think Barbie is all of a sudden going to make science ‘cool’, though I can’t fault them for at least giving it a try. According to the website Space Barbie is ‘ready to learn about Space Shuttle Systems, life aboard the Space Station, how to sleep and eat in space, and more!’
For some real women in science, there’s a nice website which, though looking very clunky and old-school, does have some nice biographies of women in science in the last 4000 years. And there’s a short video documentary about a 3-year WomenInNano project funded by the EU to encourage women in nanotechnology to act as ambassadors and mentors for the field.
What do you think? Are women under-represented in nanotechnology? Is that a problem that needs addressing? Where do you start to address the problem, at school, university or career level?
Image: from Space Camp Barbie

