Women Studies: Woman in Math and Engineering Major

8 Videos Summaries About Woman in Math and Engineering Major

Marissa Mayer’s Top 10 Rules for Success

Marissa Mayer, who is a computer science graduate and the current CEO of Yahoo, describes her top ten rules for success. These rules are summarized in the bullet points below:

• Finding your individual rhythm.
• Conducting a task that a person had not prepared himself to undertake.
• Finding a balance between two issues, which include innovation and the aspect of execution.
• Ruthless prioritization of tasks.
• Associating with smart individuals
• Developing a strong and effective culture.
• Working in small groups or teams.
• Sharing information to enhance connection, creativity and innovation.
• Learning from failure and monitoring if the path is leading to success.
• Experiment constantly to find what works well.

Mayer also elaborates on how Yahoo will remain competitive when it lacks critical components of distribution technologies. The most important issue is that Yahoo partners with several organizations such as Google, Facebook and Apple to share partnerships on operating systems and social networks. Passion is an important component, and people should mostly work for organizations that really believe in their skills (Marissa Mayer’s Top 10 Rules for Success). Furthermore, firms that invest in the careers of their employees tend to enhance productivity and innovativeness.

Being passionate in a workplace where the employer believes in his subordinates’ skills ensures that every employee will be more comfortable to try new ideas without getting tired every time he or she is asked to perform a task. It is also crucial to work in a place where one can freely express what he believes in. Mayer also gives an analysis of how they argued before the development of AdSense, which is a Google program (Marissa Mayer’s Top 10 Rules for Success). Initially, it was an advert idea, and they did not now that it would develop into a billion-dollar business. It ended up being more successful than email ads with a revenue range of five to seven billion dollars.

Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders

Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer at Facebook, and she analyzes the reason why there are much fewer women than men who manage to reach the highest levels of their careers. She also gives three important pieces of advice that can be used by women to overcome the challenges in the workforce, and they include:

• Sitting at the table.
• Making your partner to be your real partner.
• Never leaving before it is the actual time to leave.

Sandberg argues that numerous women are unable to reach the peak of their career since they face the problem of choosing between personal fulfillment and professional success. For instance, across the world, only 13% of parliamentarians are women and only 15% occupy the top seats in the corporate sector and 20% in the non-profit sector. For women, to stay focused in the workshop, the first important message is to learn sitting at the table. This will give them an opportunity to, for instance, negotiate for their rights, salaries and so on. Moreover, 57% of men and only 7% of women have the courage to negotiate their first salary (Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders). Sitting on the side reduces the chances of getting a promotion, advancing in one’s career, or even getting to the corner office. Second, making your partner a real partner leads to equal sharing of responsibilities in the households, and thus lets female employees stay in the workplace. Lastly, leaving before you leave the workforce should be avoided. This implies that planning to start a family should be done only when someone is ready since it may consume up to two years before a woman can fully recover and focus on her career path. A person should not lean back until it is time to take a break.

Engineering – Where Are the Girls and Why Aren’t They Here? Dr. Jenna Carpenter at TEDx Monroe

Dr. Jenna Carpenter looks at the reasons why there are very few females majoring in mathematics and engineering courses. It begins in the second grade where a girl is told that math and science are for boys. This is despite the fact that that there are so many opportunities for women. Jenna calls this issue an implicit bias that is present in the society or culture that is stereotypical that women cannot do well in science (Engineering – Where Are the Girls and Why Aren’t They Here?). Implicit bias affects women’s reactions, attitudes ad expectation of women who want to master in science. Implicit bias makes a woman to fail to exploit her full potential. For instance, a woman’s contributions are devalued, and this implies that her skills would be ignored. Furthermore, hiring committees usually regard men as being more qualified in the science field than women even when they have similar qualifications. A woman has to be two and a half times more qualified than a man in order to be rated equally.

K-12 teachers also possess implicit bias since they call more boys than girls in math and science classes. This implies that from a young age, implicit bias which is unintentional tends to limit the value of women to pursue science successfully. Jenna also argues that both men and women possess implicit bias. However, it can be eliminated by using objective information and not subjective opinions (Engineering – Where Are the Girls and Why Aren’t They Here?). Currently, research studies have shown that there are more females in college than males. This implies that children should be motivated to become engineers and scientists at a young age. Since females have a highly possibility of graduating from college than males, it is important to motivate girls to acquire science skills.

Reflections on Women in Science – Diversity and Discomfort: Jocelyn Bell Burnell at Tedxstormont.

Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell gives a speech that mainly focuses on women in science and challenges that women go through trying to study science subjects. She says that in her first science class in college, boys and girls were separated, with girls being taken into the domestic science room and boys being brought to the science lab. She protested, but nothing was done; however, when it came to her end year exam, she emerged to be a top student. During that time, 1955, women were supposed to cater for household chores, while men were the masters (Reflections on Women in Science – Diversity and Discomfort). However, women have come through a long journey, and, in particular, Jocelyn eventually managed to graduate with honors at Glasgow University. She also became the second woman professor in the entire country, with the number currently standing at 60 women professor. Her aim was to become an astronomer, and since then she has chaired several physics organizations. Notably, the number of women in astronomy has continued to increase in different countries across the world.

The world average is 15% of astronomers being women, which indicates that there is nothing impossible with the capacity of women to become astronomers. The problem is the culture that is practiced in different countries that tries to limit the capacity of women to join science fields. All talent and bright ideas are essential in a science research group (Reflections on Women in Science – Diversity and Discomfort). However, diversity is rarely appreciated despite the fact that it enables people to be innovative and to work with brilliant ideas. Currently, women are trying to change the culture, attitudes, and ideologies in the workplace, which has increased the number of women in science courses. Strategic thinking is, therefore, essential in growing a diverse group of employees that consists of both men and women, since stereotypes do not work. This can be done by:

• Recognizing and honoring women.
• Encouraging them to apply for science posts, jobs, promotion and funding.
• Enhance networking as well as support groups.

Secrets of the World’s Most Powerful Women

This is an episode where Forbes’ most powerful women in the world reveal some of the obstacles, lessons, and ideas that were the most influential in their career. For instance, the IMF managing director Christine Lagarde argues that most women tend to attribute their success to the support they received from the husbands, mothers, and family (Secrets of the World’s Most Powerful Women). Jane Fonda, who is an actress, argues that no one is perfect and women succeed by first accepting and appreciating themselves. Women who believe that they are complete and whole will be true to themselves and will consequently work towards achieving their career goals.
Oprah Winfrey, the chairlady of OWN network, believes that a woman should associate with people who are aligned to the same vision and have the same passion. On the same note, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard Meg Whitman said that whether a person is running a company with 10 or 50 employees, he will only be as good as the nature of people who are working for that organization. This implies that a leader needs to have the right person, working at the right job, at the right time, and who shares the right values and behaviors (Secrets of the World’s Most Powerful Women). Ertharin Cousin and Debra Lee believe that sometimes it is important to learn to say no even though it may make some people unhappy. This makes a woman to learn how to balance and eliminate some of the things that tire her. This implies that it is not a must to do everything for a woman to be successful. A network of support also supports women to be successful.

Sheryl Sandberg: Take the Lead Challenge

In an event called Take the Lead Challenge, Sheryl Sandberg attempts to inspire her audience to fulfill their ambition without having to hold anything back. Leadership roles have stagnated over the decades, and that is the reason why every individual should strive at taking the lead (Sheryl Sandberg: Take the Lead Challenge). Both men and women are held back by institutional barriers as well as things within a person. Self-confidence is a great determinant of things which people can accomplish. Men have high levels of self-confidence than women, but everyone tends to under estimate his skills. If people wait to feel that they are fully self-confident, they will never be able to achieve their goals.

Another issue that holds people back is a lack of ambition. Most men than women tend to answer affirmatively to leadership questions, and this is due to the fact that they have been brought up that way. On most occasions, boys are expected to lead, while girls are expected to follow. When grown up, men are often expected to lead, while the same qualities are not attributed to women. This can be altered by exchanging a culture that has been integrated over the years just by the way children were brought up. Another problem that holds people back is personal issues such as family commitments which appear as if it is impossible to combine with the professional goals (Sheryl Sandberg: Take the Lead Challenge). Women have often assumed that combining family issues and work can be difficult, and this holds them back from being ambitious in their career. More than 70% of women employees work full time, but they do not access the same benefits as those acquired by men.

Sheryl Sandberg: So We Leaned In… Now What?

Sheryl Sandberg says that in 2010, when she was asked to give a speech on the TED stage, she was terrified. She was not confident enough to give a speech about women on TedWomen since she felt that people will never take her seriously in the future and this would end her business career. She speaks to Pat Mitchell about the loneliness that women experience being in the top tiers of business as well as the struggles that women face as they aim to be successful (Sheryl Sandberg: So We Leaned In… Now What?). One of the greatest challenges that women face is catering for their household chores, bringing up their children and ensuring that these issues do not interfere with their capacity to progress in their professional life.

Basically, women should be more self-confident for them to succeed since they have been brought up in a society that makes men to appear superior. For instance, men are rarely asked how they are doing since it is believed they can achieve anything they set their minds to. Inequality messages have been common in the society, and most women believe that they cannot achieve what men have achieved. Furthermore, Sheryl says that most women have been stagnating for years since people shy away from the gender and feminist issues (Sheryl Sandberg: So We Leaned In… Now What?). The fact that the society still considers women to be inferior to men has played a significant role in reducing the capacity of women to advance in their career. Furthermore, women have to juggle between family issues and professional work, an issue that limits them from fully focusing on career progression. Therefore, a bold move is required if women are to conquer the levels that have already been achieved by men.

Why are we Still Talking about Women’s Issues in 2013? Linda Salane at Tedxcolumbiasc

Linda Salane asks why people are still talking about women yet it is the year 2013. Human attributes such as ambition, motivation intelligence and nurturing are equally distributed between men and women. Nevertheless, this is not the case since women still continue to perform less effectively than men. Women have managed to achieve major goals over the years, yet the world continues to call for gender changes (Why are we Still Talking about Women’s Issues in 2013?). Although more women than men attend college and they have the credentials, they still earn lower salaries than men. Women are expected to be bold and submissive at the same time. Basically, there are three important issues that women face every day in the career progress. They include:

• The toxic air that women have to encounter daily.
• Brain research which have tended to reinforce gender stereotypes.
• The secrets that women tend to hold against other women.

There are some important issues that women need to work on. First, it is not important to question whether other people like what they are. This is because women are sensitive to external voices. Second, negotiating is crucial especially when it comes to salary negotiation. Conversely, men should work on listening at the meaning of what is being talked about. Moreover, men do not have to solve and fix everything every time (Why are we Still Talking about Women’s Issues in 2013?). The toxic air that people go through tends to hinder their ability to advance. For instance, studies have shown that women do not like other women because of being mean, jealous, ad backbiting. Salane argues that women should go for transformational change since their problems cannot be changed by men of the society. They should believe that this is their time to lead irrespective of the challenges they face.