Reflection from 6/25

Something that really intrigued me today was one of the first things Dr. Shutkin pointed out in class.  That was the absence of women's ideas, opinions and presence in the research.  It is astonishing to think that women's suffrage did not end until 1920, which wasn't that long ago.  Many people's grandparents or great grandparents who are still living today have seen so many political and educational changes.  I really enjoyed reading about Kaestle's discussion about the role of women in society.  The central roles for women were to provide a sanctuary for hard-working husbands, to manage the household intelligently, and to nurture children.  Although women have made progress from just having to take care of a family I still think their are some limitations or stereotypes for women today when being educated.  Since I am a women and so interested in mathematics I am a huge advocate for women to get involved in math and science.  However since we still have some lingering ideals that only boys can be good at those subjects or that girls are supposed to be the nurturing ones we run into road blocks.  Are these ideas about nurture the reason for why more females become elementary school teachers?  Are these ideas holding women back from participating in math and science professions?  In my opinion we need to break this barrier and let students gravitate to their own interests not to societies expectations.  Stereotypes are a hard thing to break.  But who knows maybe in the future we will have even more male elementary teachers and nurses or more women engineers and mathematicians?