February 11, 2021: International Day of Women and Girls in Science
When thinking about the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2021, we have chosen to focus on the concept of challenge. Growth cannot appear in the absence of challenge: to grow muscle we must push our muscles out of our comfort zone, to learn something difficult we must challenge our own (im)patience, and to maintain the upward progress of women as they shatter so many glass ceilings we must challenge others’ expectations of what a woman can do. Only by challenging expectations or the status quo will we be able to rise beyond what we are expected to be satisfied with.
With this in mind, we have chosen to briefly showcase four different women in STEAM history who have challenged the world to promote full and equal access for all in science.
Annie Cohen Kopchovsky
In 1894 two Boston businessmen made a bet over whether or not a woman could ride a bicycle around the globe, and offered a cash prize. Annie, a daughter of Jewish immigrants and a mother to six children, accepted the challenge. She circumnavigated the globe in 15 months and earned additional income giving interviews and becoming a traveling billboard. She took care of herself, her financial needs, and all her mechanical issues on her own. She challenged the thought that a woman couldn’t be athletic, proved that a woman was capable of taking care of herself, and that women could have a family and pursue their adventurous passions.
Roberta Eike
Roberta was a student at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in 1956, but due to her gender was denied permission to go on seagoing missions to collect samples. One day she decided to stow away on a research ship. When she was discovered she was spanked by her professor and returned to shore. Her fellowship was taken away and she was expelled from WHOI. While this might seem on paper a loss rather than a win for women - her protest lit the spark for women to finally be permitted, widespread, on field missions a mere six years later. Roberta challenged what women have been historically allowed (or not allowed) to do.
Anna Soens
Anna Soens was rock climbing in 2015 when she fell and shattered her lower vertebrae. The accident left her paraplegic, but she told her father that they would someday get to the summit of Mt. Baker, the fifth largest mountain of the Cascade Range, together. After two years of effort, Anna regained enough mobility to accomplish her goal. Two years after her fall, Anna reached the top of Mt. Baker and took a photo there with her father. She challenged the notion that women can’t be tough, and the idea that a paraplegic woman can’t have the same drive and gumption necessary to pull off such an incredible mountaineering feat.
Emily Wilson
The first woman ever to translate The Odyssey discovered inconsistencies between the traditional translations and what the words actually meant in Greece at the time. For example, during a scene where a group of serving women are killed for fraternizing with the enemy, the words referring to them in prior translations are “slut”, “whore”, or the dehumanizing “creature”. But what Emily discovered was that the word in question in the original text simply meant “girl”. By addressing numerous misogynistic translation mistakes, Emily Wilson challenged the established, toxic male norms upheld by both historical and modern scholars; which will affect generations of students in the future.
Each of these women stepped up to their personal challenge with bravery. They all overcame the “challenge” of being a woman with society’s expectations of what that means. Their stories can show us where the women who came before us paved the very path that we now walk on, and they encourage us to choose to challenge the world around us today.