3 Reasons we should care that all 7 of the 2021 Nobel Science Prizes went to men
If one more person tries to tell us "it's just that all the best scientists happened to be men this year...!!!”
But for real, we don't want to just write a sassy tweet & refuse to unpack it because we get that it may be hard to understand WHY this is a giant red flag, which is why we decided to write a post for those interested in peeking below the surface of this flashy headline.
This post is for those who are genuinely interested in understanding. If you're determined to just be like "ugh women are so dramatic, not everything is about sexism," please just move on. This post isn't for you!
While it’s important to talk about the fact that women still face so many barriers in science, it’s equally important to point out that this doesn’t take away from the great work that this year’s Nobel winners have done. That’s not what this is about. This is about really shedding light on the fact that while we have made progress in terms of diversity and inclusion in science - we still have so far to go. The only way to continue to move forward is to make sure that everyone understands that there still IS a problem. And that’s what this blog post is about!
Here are the 3 most common arguments we've heard over the past week, and 3 ways to unpack them.
𝗔𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 #1: "𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀"
Dr Amanda Moehring noted that there is false rhetoric that few women get Nobels (<4% in Physics since '00) not bc of sexism, but bc awards go to old people, back when 'women didn't do science'. But data shows the proportion of female physicists getting PhDs since the '80s far outweighs their representation among winners of the physics Nobel. This false narrative needs to stop because it simply isn’t true. There are many women in science. We just need to put in a little more effort into recognizing them since so much of their work has consistently been either overshadowed by or outright taken credit for, by men.
𝗔𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 #2: "𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗱𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸"
Mmm hmm. Thing is, studies consistently show that women are unfairly overlooked for promotions, women's work is judged against higher standards than men's, and that women in STEM are often assumed to be less "naturally" talented than men. There are gender biases at play that we NEED to stop denying.
𝗔𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 #3: "𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗠"
Congrats, I'm so happy for you!! Just because it hasn't happened to YOU, doesn't make it less real. This is why we have bodies of research and data. Because your anecdotal experience does not always reflect reality for most people. So please stop making this about you! Sexism is alive and well in STEM, and it is our collective responsibility to acknowledge and address it.
Remember, these 3 points aren’t intended to take away from the great work that all of this year's winners have done but instead reflect that the process for awarding the prize is flawed in the first place. As Ed Yong put it, "Instead of honoring science, [The Nobels] distort its nature, rewrite its history, and overlook many of its important contributors." We must stop denying that the flawed methods by which the Nobel Science Prize is awarded are not only outdated, but also highlight inequities that deserve to be dealt with, head-on. After all, if any scientific process was repeatedly deemed flawed - would we not think it important to develop a new procedure? To eradicate the old, outdated one? To do better?
At the end of the day - this is about demanding better because we all deserve better. Hopefully, this post has helped clarify why we need to look a little deeper when we see something like ALL Nobel Science Prizes only being awarded to men in a given year. It could be nothing. But it also could be a hint that something larger is at play. And taking the time to investigate that is what ultimately empowers us with the knowledge needed to make impactful, data-driven, authentic change. And after all, isn’t that what the scientific process is ALL about?!
For more details on the Nobel Science Prize awarding process, we highly recommend The Absurdity of the Nobel Prizes in Science by Ed Yong. .