In Professor Meraz's lecture, she started out by asking her class if anyone has ever felt discriminated by their gender. It is not surprising to see how many women actually do feel discriminated against by men. In my opinion, I think discrimination is an everyday struggle women deal with, whether they realize it or not. I have felt discriminated because of my gender many times. Men have made me feel like I was not physically or mentally capable of doing or understanding things. My own male friends have also subconsciously done this as well. I feel like this type of discrimination is hindering women from moving forward in their fields of work and education.
One of the major questions Prof. Meraz raised was why are computer science majors and degrees declining. Women are starting to show little to no interest in the field of computer science. This corresponds to the way women are portrayed on the Internet. Prof. Meraz talked about an online game called Diner Dash. The game revolves around a girl who runs a diner and has many tasks to finish in order to advance to the next round. The game is noticeably subjective towards women. The girl in the game must cook, clean, take orders, etc. These are only some of the tasks women are subjected to in everyday life. Games are meant to be relaxing and fun. When Prof. Meraz asked the students how they felt when playing the game, they said they felt a bit anxious. I find it odd that a game could portray how a woman actually feels when she does these tasks in real life. When you look at the video games geared towards men, you will find the game to be more mentally stimulating while giving the player a sense of power. The typical male video game deals with some kind of domination with weapons. These games are examples of how our culture identifies with each of the genders.
As we talked about in class, clothing and physical appearance are typically culturally learned. Right off the bat, we learn how our gender should and should not look and act. Toughness and dominance for men are culturally learned. As for women, we are told to be more submissive and timid. This directly ties in with the portrayal of genders in video games. When looking at commercials and movies, we can also see the roles women play. I remember watching a commercial about a dish washing liquid. They never showed the face of a woman, but they showed a person's hands. The dish washing liquid was said to be better for dishes and will also moisturize your hands. I'm sure we can all agree that men really don't mind if their hands get moisturized while washing dishes. The point I'm making is that the commercial non-verbally stated that women were the ones washing dishes. In class, we also discussed how women were portrayed in film. They were never typically the dominant role. They were also idolized as sex symbols. The more attractive they were, the more popular they were. Female bloggers are almost forced to use their beauty as a jump starter in their career. A lot of the time, the only way for a female to get noticed by a male blogger is to flaunt her beauty. Men questioned on the topic said that the reality of it is, is that men pay more attention to an attractive female blogger rather than a not so attractive female.
This also ties in with the notion that men are better than women. Men are smarter than women, and will be more successful than women. When looking at Sheryl Sandberg's story, we see that is not always the case. Sheryl is not the CEO at Facebook. She recently admitted to leaving work at 5:30 pm every day to have dinner with her children. The fact that she had to hide this for so long is absurd. No one should have to hid the fact that they want to spend time with their children. Although, I'm sure if it were a man saying this, he would have no problem telling the world that he leaves work early to spend time with his children. People would probably applaud him for doing so. On the other hand, Sheryl faced many oppositions due to her confession.
Concluding, I believe the decline in computer science majors and degrees are due to the portrayal of women in society. I remember Prof. Meraz briefly saying something about how girls are supposed to play with barbies, not on the computer. When I think about all the people I know that are really good with computers, they're all male: my father, my brother, my two cousins, and a close family friend. At a young age, they all showed a great interest in computers and perused their interest as they became older. I think younger girls need to be encouraged to seek out their interests in computers instead of being told that it's a "boy thing". I also think mentors need to help these young girls explore their options a little better, letting them know they are capable of doing anything they want to do with their lives. We need to start when they're young because that is the most crucial time in learning their role as a women in society. I think if we really focus on keeping these young girls motivated and provide them with positive feedback, that'll remedy the initial problem.
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