Note: This editorial will refer to girls and female students as those who identify as female, and boys and male students as those who identify as male, regardless of sex assigned at birth.
Ithaca City School District prides itself on its equity and diversity, so there is an expectation that the school affords all students equal access to its curriculum. In some respects, IHS fulfills these expectations; the school offers a wide variety of subjects to students, many of which are in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Any student can technically sign up for these classes; statistics, environmental science, and design are just a few of the fields students have the option to explore. However, despite the apparent abundance of choices and opportunities, there is a clear gender imbalance in IHS’s STEM classes.
The world beyond ICSD reflects similar trends. According to the National Science Foundation, in 2021, only about thirty-five percent of the STEM workforce was women. Women bring a unique perspective to the table that is essential in continuing progress. As a rapidly evolving field, having diversity in STEM assures that problems are examined from multiple viewpoints, leading to the most optimal solutions and a world that is improved economically, environmentally, and technologically. For example, in fields such as medicine, the lack of female representation leads to massive consequences of mistreatment and misdiagnoses. But especially with ICSD’s progressive and forward-looking goals, it’s easy to overlook the gender disparities in our schools that have existed in our society for so long. The Tattler Editorial Board believes that ICSD is not taking the necessary steps to address gender gaps in advanced STEM classes.
As STEM classes at IHS increase in difficulty over grade levels, the number of female students taking these classes dwindles. AP Calculus BC is the most advanced math course offered at IHS, but out of its forty-five total students, only nineteen identify as female. Similarly, in AP Physics C, one of IHS’s most advanced science courses, only eight out of the twenty-four students identify as female. Technology classes at IHS see an even greater gender disparity. In Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), there are just four female students across the two sections of the course, each with at least twenty students.
In the senior technology elective, Engineering Design and Development, there are two female students out of eighteen total students. It’s clear that fewer girls than boys are taking advanced STEM classes, but what has led to this disparity in a school district that is so dedicated to diversity and equity?
Because IHS students have the freedom to construct their own schedules, it would be easy to assume that if female students wanted to take STEM classes, they would simply sign up for them. However, this assumption ignores the multitude of factors that perpetuate the gender gap within STEM, many of which are deeply institutionalized and difficult to overcome. STEM, especially at more advanced levels, is male-dominated, which can make female students feel unwelcome. Zairan Chen ’24, who is taking AP Calculus BC and AP Physics C, explained, “Sometimes people mansplain things to me and it’s frustrating. I feel unsure of myself because I think everyone is smarter than me.” Gender stereotypes that girls have faced since childhood can discourage them from taking STEM classes, as Zadie Wang ’26, who has taken Design and Drawing for Production (DDP) and CIM, describes: “I thought about dropping [the class], but I also knew that I loved the course and I loved the content. I just wish the environment was different. I think that would have made my experience better.” Many female students also experience isolation within STEM classes. Claira Sine ’25, who has taken Principles of Engineering, DDP, and CIM, noted, “If you walk into a classroom, you’d see all of the non-male students sitting at the same table and staying close together.” Chen added that “It’s awkward sometimes when the guys in the class are in groups together, and I feel a little left out.”
This isolation also extends into higher education, further illustrating the importance of addressing this issue early on. Hilary Ewing, IHS’s Associate Principal of Curriculum and Instruction and a former technology teacher, told The Tattler Editorial Board that many of her female college classmates studying STEM felt that “when they had trouble, there was nobody that they could go to in the department, or there was no female cohort of people to go to. We were all just kind of outnumbered.” Female students in STEM are also pressured to overlook gender disparities to fit in. Stephanie Perkins, a technology teacher at Boynton Middle School, was one of the few female students in her college’s Technology Education program. She described how “It felt like there was a lot of pressure to assimilate and act like ‘one of the guys.’ If you acted in a way that was perceived as being too feminine your ability was questioned by the other students in the class.”
To increase equity within its STEM classes, ICSD must prioritize active outreach to female students. Gender stereotypes influence children from a young age, so it is extremely important that ICSD promotes gender diversity in STEM beginning in elementary school. “In my experience, I think the most important and simplest step is to create opportunities for STEM early on in elementary and middle school and make them available to everyone,” said Jennifer Zhao ’25, the president of IHS’s robotics team, Code Red Robotics. There have been past initiatives to reach out to younger students, such as the Girls Who Code program in affiliation with Cornell University, but such efforts are few and far between. ICSD needs to promote more programs focused on diversity in STEM from a young age, both inside and outside of school. This means partnering with and spearheading new programs that encourage female students to explore all sorts of STEM fields. One such example is Perkins’s DIY technology club at Boynton, which boasts a largely female membership. If female students feel encouraged and supported in STEM classes from an early age, they will likely continue pursuing STEM throughout their lives, paving the way for innovations that benefit all of society.
Specialized outreach to female students has also been successful in ICSD. Ewing described past efforts from technology teachers to recruit more female students, explaining, “We actually pushed into math classes across the campus and said, ‘We want people to be taking programming, we want girls, we want all students to feel welcome here.’” According to Ms. Ewing, the active recruitment led an increased number of girls to enroll in technology courses the following year. Similarly, Annalise Thompson ’24, a longtime Code Red officer, uses every chance she gets to “encourage more girls to join STEM programs through volunteering at the middle school and personal invitations to people … I learned that the best way to get more girls involved in STEM is through those personal invitations and showing them that there is a place for them.” Many girls have joined Code Red as a direct result of Thompson’s efforts. It’s evident that when given support, girls participate and thrive in STEM.
However, teachers and students do not always have the time and resources to do this important work on a large scale by themselves. “We’ve had other years where we didn’t have the energy or time to do that level of recruiting,” Ewing explained, adding that “the more we can have staff recruiting for these courses, and showing students that they can be part of it, the more success we’re going to have.” Considering the importance and clear positive results of reaching out to students personally, the district should implement initiatives targeted at female students in middle school, when they begin thinking about high school electives. Panels or meetings led by IHS teachers and female STEM students, targeted at middle schoolers, would foster a supportive and welcoming environment for young students.
Beyond encouraging girls to pursue STEM, ICSD must also build a culture of support within STEM classes. As students move up through the difficulty levels of classes, they may become unsure of whether or not to continue. Combined with societal pressures, an unwelcoming environment can turn female students away from STEM classes. Creating a supportive environment before students have even entered the class would lead to more girls feeling comfortable choosing to take difficult, male-dominated STEM classes. To achieve this, IHS must make an effort to diversify its faculty. Currently, Emily Blake is the only female technology teacher at IHS. In her CIM class last year, Sine observed, “I was able to better connect with my teacher because she had experienced the same situation in high school and college, and she would openly talk about that experience.” Female teachers can provide much-needed support to female students in a male-dominated field.
Ms. Blake also spoke about an unsuccessful past initiative for an all-female section of DDP, asserting that “if the idea were to be proposed again, I would personally help see it through. That could create a safe space to increase females enrolling in tech classes.” The idea was unsuccessful at the time, but with more female teachers, it could be a possibility to create a welcoming place for female students.
Increased awareness among teachers is also conducive to a better environment for female students. “How teachers treat students, in general, and specifically female students, and also how the teachers themselves feel about [the subject] can make a huge impact,” Vivan Molnar ’24 explained. “I think the teacher also makes a significant difference when someone chooses to take the class.” Chen acknowledged the efforts of IHS STEM teachers to create a welcoming atmosphere, noting, “My teachers do a pretty good job of supporting girls in the class.”
Additionally, the school should make an effort to create a more diverse and applicable curriculum, which can help draw more female students who may have been hesitant to STEM. “I wish there was a little bit more emphasis, especially in the beginner class, which is DDP, on women in engineering,” Wang said. “This year we did a lot of research on the history of manufacturing, and it’s a lot of the same guys, like Toyota and Ford. It gets discouraging when you’re seeing the same guys over and over, just the male leaders.” Overall, by increasing diversity and representation within the classroom, IHS can ensure that female students are truly supported inside STEM classes.
Diversity in STEM serves society by promoting innovation, but fewer and fewer girls progress through advanced STEM classes into the professional world. A similar pattern prevails at IHS as female students emerge from a culture that does not encourage participation in STEM and find themselves unsupported in male-dominated classes. To rectify this situation, The Tattler Editorial Board believes that the school administration must make a number of changes to improve the environment for girls in advanced STEM. On the topic of action steps, Ms. Perkins noted, “It is important to listen to a range of student voices on this to find out what factors are limiting their participation in STEM classes and clubs. Then we need to think about what we can do differently to draw these students in.” Administration should engage in active recruitment efforts, especially with younger students, to build connections between girls and STEM fields early. It should also promote a culture of women in STEM at the high school level and use the advisory system to encourage more girls to pursue STEM fields. It is the responsibility of the school to show incoming and current female students that they, too, have a place within the rapidly-growing spheres of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.