To finish up the year that was, we’re going to bring you the most popular Mamamia posts of 2013. It’s like a countdown, an advent calendar of sorts, but one that gets your through the post-Christmas blur and into the new year. We’ve been lucky to have some truly wonderful writers join us to share their thoughts on Mamamia this year. This is the very, very best of what they had to offer. Enjoy.
You probably don’t give a shit about astronauts. And to be honest – I can’t really blame you.
You’re probably too busy with your everyday life to worry about NASA and things like missions to Mars and what the International Space Station is planning.
Because when you have three children/uni assignments/work deadlines/sick parents/a grumpy partner to contend with, outer space understandably might take a backburner on the list of Things To Care About.
But you need to care about astronauts.
More specifically – you need to care about what NASA just did, because it’s pretty amazing.
You see, last month, NASA announced their 2013 astronaut candidate class. This class is made up of eight people who will join the 49 NASA astronauts that already exist and are working on rather impressive things like missions to asteroids and planets.
Four of those people are women.
Their names are Christina Hammock, Nicole Mann, Anne McClain and Jessica Meir.
NASA didn’t select these women because they had some kind of gender quota to fill. They simply did it because they were the best people for the job. And out of all astronaut candidate classes, that’s the highest percentage of women ever selected in a NASA group.
That might not sound so significant until you consider that…
1) 534 people have travelled to space so far – and only 57 of them have been women.
2) These four women won out over 6300 other applicants. 6300.
And the application process was intense, as you might expect it to be. Just looking at the NASAwebsite, ONE aspect of their training program requires that you be able to swim 3 lengths of a 25m pool in a flight suit and tennis shoes. And that isn’t even taking into account the other mental/physical requirements.
But let’s forget about all that for a second. Let’s look at the achievements of the four women.
Christina has engineering and physics degrees and a masters in electrical engineering, and has spent winters in places such as Antarctica doing research.
Nicole has a mechanical engineering degree and is a qualified pilot in the US Marine Corps, as well as a brilliant soccer player.
Anne is a pilot/command intelligence officer/rugby player/scuba diver that also has degrees in public health and international studies.
Jessica has degrees in biology, space studies and marine biology, is a pilot/scuba diver/ice diver, and is an assistant professor at Harvard medical school
These four women have nine degrees between them. Three are qualified pilots. Two are qualified scuba divers. Christina and Anne are among the youngest candidates ever selected for the program.
There is no denying that these four women are amazing. But we can’t just leave it at that. We can’t just read this post, nod our head in agreement and then just walk away.
We need to spread the word about them. We need to brag about their achievements to other women. We need to promote how well they have done.
Because in our society, we don’t spend nearly enough time celebrating or appreciating smart women. And I’m as guilty of this as everyone else.
Off the top of my head, I can name at least 100 female celebrities and intimate details about their personal lives. I can explain the entire Kardashian family tree, if you want. I can tell you about at least five of Brody Jenner’s ex-girlfriends.
But I can barely name any women who are significantly changing the world in the field of science, or medicine, or charity. I am barely aware of those who are doing ground-breaking research into the future of our world.
And that has a trickle-down effect to everyday life. It’s why I wasn’t particularly proud to be part of the “smart group” at school (read: the group that actually bothered turning up to school most daysand bringing their books). It’s why I didn’t say anything when my friends – from that “smart group” – dumbed themselves down when speaking to boys, in some kind of attempt to appear more attractive.
My heroes were people like Britney Spears.
It’s why my heroes were always pop stars like Britney Spears, instead of people like my own mother, who has a medical degree from one of the best universities in Europe and defied all odds to escape a communist country and come to Australia.
She now spends her days saving people’s lives. To contrast: Britney sang songs with lyrics like “hit me baby one more time”, went crazy, shaved her head and got married for 55 hours.
It’s why I love to tell people stories about how bad I am at maths and how I can’t ever calculate 24 hour time and about how I have crashed/scraped my car about five times.
It’s why I keep telling people that “it’s not that hard!” to get into a law degree. Even though it is hard. And I worked my arse off to do it.
And I know that other women do the same, because I sit there and I hear them do it all the time.
So send this post to other women that you know. Other women that don’t care about astronauts, but should. Get them to send it to their daughters. Get their daughters to send it to their friends.
Because when we are presented with four brilliant women, such as these new NASA astronauts – we need to start learning their names and their stories, just as we know the stories of so many who are doing much less important work.
And then maybe one day, our daughters might learn to look up to us instead of whatever pop stars is in the top 10 iTunes charts of the moment. That would be all kinds of amazing.
Top Comments
The glass ceiling is self imposed. There are plenty of opportunities that women simply do not pursue.
There is no restriction on women studying engineering, yet only 5% of undergraduates are female. There are no restrictions on women learning traditionally male trades, and state governments are actively encouraging women to take up apprenticeships, but they don't. The mining industry has known for some time that women make better machine operators than men because they are much more gentle on the machinery, reducing maintenance costs and extending the life of the machines. Women are now allowed to take up combats roles in the defence forces, but very few do.
Then, if you look at the mamamia home page, there are sections on style, body image, entertainment and food. All of which promote typical women's roles. They are also complete fluff and do nothing but strengthen the argument that women are self centred.
There is nothing on the home page about science and technology, and mamamia writers openly admit that they are more interested in the antics of whatever Kardashian had her arse widened last week than in the real issues that have the potential to change lives dramatically.
So why not change the focus of mamamia slightly to include a science and technology section that focuses on women who have achieved in these areas, rather than the fluff.
Completely agree. I stopped reading teenage girl magazines (Dolly, Girlfriend etc) at age 14 because they kept putting Paris Hilton on the cover and telling me how to get the attention of "my crush" rather than writing about much of actual substance. I struggled for years to find a magazine that suited my needs - at 16 I found one that was a bit less fluffy but it went out of print! A quick look at a magazine stand the other day made me really angry because Girlfriend had declared 2014 "The year of Kylie and Kendall" - that being Kim Kardashian's teenage half sisters! Meanwhile there are talented and hardworking sportswomen (such as those featured on Mamamia's sport Saturdays) and other professional women than models and actresses that they could be featuring (not that there's anything wrong with being a model or actress, but moderation!)
Which combat roles??? I remember hearing about opening them up to women when the Gillard govt was in, but haven't heard much since. A lot of people are against it, as they feel women aren't up to it and that our presence would distract the men.
I admit it would be good to see a more science/technology angle on this site and I think there's readers that would be happier to see that, but the fluff has it's place. Not everything has to be highbrow or academic.
Combat roles were open to women since January 2013. Of the 8000 serving woman, only 20 have accepted. I don't have the actual roles.
The Dept of Defence have also said they are opening formerly restricted combat roles for women.
These roles are
Navy: Clearance Divers and Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving.
Air Force: Defence Guards and Ground Defence.
Army: Infantry and Armoured Corps and some Artillery roles.
Women can apply to be: Ground and Airfield Defence Officers, Infantry, combat engineers, Armoured corps (tanks), explosives and mine warfare and some other jobs. Very few women both serving and/or new recruits have shown any interest or are unable to meet the physical standards needed. The US Marine Corps (which is a front line fighting force) in preparing women for roles in combat, found that only 3 in 15 women could manage to do at least 3 chinups as they lacked the upper body strength. It is this lack of upper body strength that is of concern to serving male personnel, because on a field of combat, a woman has to be able to drag a fellow male soldier of any weight to safety if needed whilst carrying a 50lb bergin on her back as well. Soldiers feel (and quite rightly) that physical standards should not be dropped to accomodate women on the grounds of gender equality, as it is their lives being compromised and not some politicians.
We still tell our daughters not to run and yell! Its OK for our sons to run, jump, and yell as loudly as possible, you can still see the gender lines by looking at toys for girls and boys!
Women who are loud are considered shrill,...men forceful! Women good in business as ball breakers... men as ambitious and talented! Women who have a baby and dare to come back to work when they're ready are considered lousy mothers! Women still cant breast feed their baby in the 21st century! a discreet placement of the baby and a blanket and it all over...but no women are supposed to go to a toilet? A toilet! would a man go and eat their lunch in the loo??? the answer would be a resounding NO!! So why should a baby be made too, why should a woman be shamed into it as well???
Are there any science based kits marketed for both sexes? nope!
Girls see that they're meant to cooking cleaning and being like their mum, and boys have the same message given to them to be the head of the house the wage earner!
I think until we tell both sexes that its OK for them to want everything, well still have very few women engineers, astronaut's and few women in male centric jobs!
I'm still hopeful for a woman President for America, we're close!
Whilst we still have religions that make women less than their male counterpart's we will still have problems...
These days girls know they can do any job they choose if they have the ability and determination to do so. Only many are like the author, they choose to idolize Britney Spears and her ilk rather than some-one like the late Sally Ride. Since the Australian Defence Force opened up combat roles for women there has been very limited interest from current serving female members, so all the rants about gender equality in combat is mere PC propaganda.
I agree with you totally madcapmel. When women say NO we are considered difficult, ball breakers, hard to handle, selfish and demanding. Men don't like women that say no. When they marry they look for women that are easy to control or easy to handle. When men say NO they are considered assertive, dominant and masculine.
Crap.
The ability to serve in a combat role as a female only began in 2013 and is only open to current serving members. All those current serving members already have a career and promotion path - do you really think many (male or female) want to change career mid-path?
In 2016, females will be able to apply directly when joining. At that point the numbers will start increasing.
In any case, it will take time to adjust biases and culture - you are right, we can do any job if we have the ability and determination - however the discrimination and roadblocks we face are still significant in many fields.