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A Woman’s Place

“Let women stay at home and hold their peace.”

This sentiment, from Greek playwright Aeschylus in 467 B.C., shows the status of women in

ancient Greece. For centuries, many people agreed with Aeschylus and believed that a woman’s place

was, in fact, in the home. For many women, traditional roles have involved domestic labor such as cooking,

cleaning, daily care of children, and all of the work needed to take care of the family and home. But in the

1940s, things began to change when World War II sent men from the workplace into battle, thus

expanding job opportunities for women.

While men were away from their pre-war jobs and careers, women worked in factories, took care

of sick soldiers, fixed airplanes, and performed clerical tasks to support the armed forces. As women

gained more acceptance in the workplace, it became more common to find them in roles as teachers,

nurses, and secretaries. However, in some fields, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering, and

Mathematics (STEM), some people maintained the belief that women were not smart enough to succeed.

Despite these obstacles, some pioneering, intelligent women challenged these ways of thinking by making

valuable contributions to STEM. These women changed history by proving that they could not only

succeed in male-dominated fields, but, when given the opportunity, they could even surpass their male

counterparts.

When most people think of computers and engineering, some of the first names that probably

come to mind are those of men who are well-known for innovations and development in technology; this

is a list that includes names such as Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs. But did you

know that a woman invented one of the first computer programming languages? In fact, much of the

computer technology we associate with men might not exist without Grace Hopper’s accomplishments.

Interested in math and technology from an early age, Grace Hopper studied mathematics and earned a

Ph.D. at Yale University before serving as a professor at Vassar College. During World War II, Hopper joined

a United States Naval Reserve program called Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service

(WAVES). During her tenure in the navy, Hopper worked on high-level military technology and computer

programming projects in a laboratory at Harvard University. Hopper performed calculations on simple

computers called Mark I, II, and III and was valued for her exceptional programming skills.

Hopper made enormous contributions to computer technology. She helped create the first

electronic, digital computer called UNIVAC I. She also created one of the first computer programming

languages for business applications. This programming language, called COBOL or Common Business

Oriented Language, was helpful in banking and government because it was relatively easy for non-

programmers to use. Another contribution was her development of a program called a compiler, which

converts programming languages into binary code that computers can process. Even though outstanding

women like Hopper were successful, today only 29% of STEM workers are women. In order to encourage

women to code, a tech program called Fullstack Academy created the Grace Hopper Program, a program

that helps young women afford to study computer programming. In addition, there are now many tech

conferences, including Women Who Code, that help women in tech come together and support one

another.

Hopper had to persevere even when other people told her that some of her ideas would not work.

And a number of other women in STEM fields have faced push-back too, including both racism and gender

discrimination. Until recently, few people knew that African Americans played a major role in NASA’s first

manned space flight. In the 1950s, during a time of widespread racial segregation in the United States,

three African American women named Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Katherine Johnson worked

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for NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These women were hired as “human

computers” to do the math needed for one of America’s first successful space missions. Though African

American women could work for the company, they were assigned to a separate area from their white

coworkers and faced daily reminders of their lower social position. The book Hidden Figures, made into a

movie in 2016, shows how white staff members treated these women unfairly. It also brought to light that

NASA would not have succeeded in launching a man into space without them. Mary Jackson, Dorothy

Vaughan, and Katherine Johnson changed history for African American women in STEM, proving that they

too could succeed in mathematics.

Though there are still fewer women than men in STEM jobs, increasing numbers of young women

are making contributions to the field. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski is only 25 years old and already a well-

known physicist. Pasterski was interested in aviation from a young age, and she was one of the youngest

people in history to create her own airplane. Pasterski began taking flying lessons at age 9; then, before

she turned 17, Pasterski had already made her own plane and completed a solo flight in it. A Chicago

native who graduated from a public high school, Pasterski is now a respected scientist whose research

was even cited by the distinguished scientist Stephen Hawking. She has received many job offers, including

one from NASA and another one from Blue Origin, a space technology company founded by Amazon

billionaire Jeff Bezos. Pasterski has been involved in an initiative called Let Girls Learn, a program created

by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama that provides funding for young women in countries

where it is difficult to go to school. A first-generation Cuban-American, Pasterski has also been involved

in efforts that promote STEM education for girls in Cuba.

Had Grace Hopper, NASA’s Hidden Figures, or Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski stayed away from STEM

careers because they are women, we would be without their contributions to computer technology,

aviation, and space travel. In addition, they have helped inspire young girls who are interested in STEM

careers. Even though discrimination has worked against them, these women prove to us that gender and

race has nothing to do with a person’s ability to contribute to science, engineering, or any other field. A

woman’s place should and can be anywhere that she dreams.

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