Pursuing interests

According to Forbes, technology company Hewlett-Packard discovered that when applying for a promotion, women felt like they had to meet 100% of the requirements, while men only felt they had to meet 60%.

Furthermore, Piloto said women often feel unworthy and lack confidence when applying for positions.

“Women sometimes also feel like we need to prove ourselves more than a man,” she said. “Even adult women, when we apply for a job, we need to, we put ourselves in a higher standard than, you know, we need to.”

Moreover, Crawford said many perceive careers associated with women as “weak or sensitive,” preventing them from pursuing feminine roles.

Moreover, Piloto said as she is a computer scientist in a male-dominated industry, she herself experienced internalized misogyny and began to view women as inherently less intelligent than men.

 “Because I was always involved in a lot of male-dominated things, a lot of it got to me,” she said. “I did think that women were dumber, right. I was like, ‘Why aren’t there more women here, are they just dumber?’ I just didn’t understand, and to be honest, all my friends were male because there was no women for me to even have a counterpoint.”

Bora Erinc (’22) said he sees a significant gender imbalance in his physics class, which is the result of the “idea that we get funneled into these sort of perceptions” that specific genders are fit for certain interests.

Piloto, who used to work at an all-girls school, said she sees a difference in how students are willing to participate and how they ask questions in an all-female environment rather than in mixed-gender climates. Thus, Piloto said it is essential for women to have a safe space so they can be comfortable and talk without fear of judgment.

“I saw the difference in how girls ask questions in class versus how girls ask questions in class here,” she said. “It’s really beneficial for girls to be able to be in an environment of only females.”