The Math Is Not "Mathing" by Rachel

Rachel's entry into Varsity Tutor's September 2025 scholarship contest

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The Math Is Not "Mathing" by Rachel - September 2025 Scholarship Essay

STEM has been a male-dominated profession, and I think it’s time for a change. In the next ten years, I hope that more women will become professors teaching and leading STEM related subjects.

As more women enter STEM related fields, I believe there should be more women professors. These female students will have a mentor to look up and relate to. As a girl who will be entering the field of biology, I wish there was more of a split statistic. Currently, according to the National Library of Medicine, there is a “62.9% probability” that a man is in a position of teaching STEM, proving how men are still the prominent teachers of these subjects.

Before 2001, “STEM” was known as “SMET”. Thankfully, Judith Ramaley, a woman within the National Science Foundation changed “SMET” to “STEM”, which caught on far faster. Although it was rebranded by Ramaley, it is surprising that STEM is not geared more towards women. I would even consider it a problem. How is it that a field so heavily influenced by women is not led and taught by more women? For me, this does not “add up”, which is why I hope to see a change in the next ten years and beyond.

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