Of the Nobel Prize and why it eludes more women. — Fortune Mistress
Though it is not an exception to see a woman win one of the world’s most prestigious awards -the Nobel Prize; however, things were a little unprecedented this year. It is the first time that a woman-only team has won a Nobel in the science discipline.
Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the U.S. have made history today. They have been contributing to the field of science for a very long time but today they have inadvertently contributed to the idea that women can do wonders and become mistresses of their own fortunes if given equal opportunities.
Nobel Prize and Women
A Swedish Inventor and industrialist , famous for the invention of the explosive dynamite, Alfred Nobel gave a major portion of his fortune to the establishment of a fund that recognizes and rewards most intellectual minds from around the world-The Nobel Prize.
Between 1901 and 2019, 919 individuals and 24 unique organisations have received the Nobel Prizes. Out of these, they have been awarded 54 times to women only. There is only one woman who has been awarded the prize two times and that too in different fields- Marie Curie. She was also the first woman to receive the prestigious prize.
An interesting fact!
The Curie Family has been the most successful, as most members of their family have received this prize. Marie Curie, her husband Pierre Curie, her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie whose husband Frédéric Joliot are also recipients of this award.
There has been some increase in the number of women winning nobel prizes since the time it started but…..
The sorry state
The trend for more women receiving nobel prize is marginally growing though it is not very satisfying.The number is quite small owing the social inadequacies forever faced by women and the lack of support for them to excel infinitely in any given field especially in the fields of STEM.
In 2017, when all Nobel prizes went to male nominees, It raised a question amongst inquisitives what was actually wrong that few women(and no woman that year) had received the awards.
While this question should have been raised decades back, we heard Goran Hansson, vice chair of the board of directors of the Nobel Foundation, say that it was disappointing that women were not a part of winners’ list in that year. He added that any discovery or invention that years to be verified and validated, before the award is conferred. Early discoveries were made during the times that were not very encouraging for women!
To that Per Stromberg, the chair of the committee that gave the prize in economics, added “we are indeed awarding research, where discoveries were made in the 70s, 80s, early 90s, during a time when we had much more of a gender bias in economics as well as in many other sciences. It basically means that, as time goes by, the fraction of women Nobel laureates will increase. “
Of Nobel Prize in science and women
Mary K Feeney, who is a professor and Lincoln professor of ethics in public affairs and associate director of the Centre for Science,Technology and Environmental Policy Studies at Arizona State University, mentions in an article published in the Conversation, about why less women win science Nobel Prizes.
She explains about the implicit bias that women face as experts or academic scientists. Prof Mary talks about the typical image people hold for a nobel prize winner : a scientist who is a senior male person and is white. “It manifests itself by valuing, acknowledging and rewarding men’s scholarship over women’s scholarship.”
She also says that men cite their own papers 56 per cent more than women do. According to her,”women are underrepresented in journal editorships, as senior scholars and lead authors and as peer reviewers. This marginalisation in research-gatekeeping positions works against the promotion of women’s research.”
Studies have also shown women are underrepresented in the nominations for the Nobel prizes and it is probably not due to their worthlessness but due to the hindrances and other biases that discourage women before they can climb influential echelons and be among the eminent pool of scientists to be considered for major prizes.
Diversity of Nobel Laureates
Interesting Fact!
Malala Yousafzai was 17 when she was awarded the Peace Prize in 2014. She is the youngest winner of the award. The Oldest person to win a Nobel is John B. Goodenough was 97 when he was awarded the Prize in Chemistry in 2019.
The average age of a Nobel Prize laureate is 55 years and they are mostly male. But where do they come from? Data shows that the people from the U.S. have amassed the highest number of prizes but a majority of them are immigrants who came to the states during their childhood or early careers. The US is followed by U.K. and then Germany.
More than 30 percent of all U.S.-based winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry were born outside of the U.S. Evidence also tells that those researchers who travelled more internationally are more recognized and cited in comparison to the academicians who stayed in the country where their first paper was published.
Hope sustains but we shouldn’t just wait!
It is true that the trend towards women getting more leadership roles and recognition is getting ahead but there is still a large gap due to the inherent biases. Let’s start from home and never say that a girl is not a science-person. The upbringing and exposure play a large role in developing one’s mindset as well as choices for future actions.
Worth of a human being shall be decided by his own efforts and destiny. Being threatened by a woman’s intelligence and success does not make any sense because she has every right to celebrate her genius. We hope to see more women, people of colour winning awards like the Nobel, that would serve as role models for others that embolden deserving endeavours.
Originally published at https://fortunemistress.com on October 9, 2020.
