How is gender inequality present in this issue?

[Hilton] The field of science and technology has always been a male dominated field
ever since the particle theory was invented, especially in the case here, in NASA, when the
work involves expensive financial decisions, accurate but complicated calculations, the
exploration of the unknown and a lot more. One minor mistake or miscalculation can easily
lead to lives at risk; therefore, a NASA employee is always well respected and looked up
upon for their expertise. Of course, despite the load of responsibility, working at NASA not
only is a huge honour, but it is also many people’s dream to do so.

[Hilton] However, the problem of gender inequality is still present in NASA. Till this
point, only around one third of NASA’s employees are females, and less than 10 members of
the staff being non-gender specific. The imbalance of genders in NASA, and in the advanced
science field,  can easily be seen, and thankfully the situation is slowly changing, with more
and more females choosing to study science and engineering, and to work in the aerospace
industry as well. 

Cultural perspectives behind the issue

[Sunny] The gender inequality that is present in this issue is mainly due to the
cultural perspectives for women. Traditionally, women are supposed to “stay in the kitchen”
and help manage the home or family while her husband goes to work and earns money.
Education for females was not particularly important or valued highly back in the days. Plus
there is a general belief that men are particularly stronger than women in science subjects,
let alone going to university and having specialist jobs in STEM related fields. Furthermore,
social behaviour also plays a huge part in this issue. Females are more likely to choose
childcare or gender studies fields over STEM fields.

Different people’s opinions on the issue

[Harry] Different people have different opinions on this issue. Some people believe
that it is the females’ choice to choose STEM related fields like a job in NASA or to work at
other fields. Meanwhile, some people are trying to enhance opportunities and engage more
women to join the STEM workforce, by creating workshops or with program designs etc. For
example, NASA has made application for females more convenient by creating a workshop
called “Girls in STEM”, which was intended to provide more opportunities to women. Some
people support their agenda and solution. However, some people think that the plan is
biased towards females and believe that the program is giving females an unfair advantage
and that everyone deserves the same chances and treatment.