Sexism Speech

“Marie Curie, famous scientist and mother of radiology, proclaimed ‘nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.’ As a female science student, however, I have discovered there is very much to be feared in science classrooms across America. I’m not speaking about dissections or open flames; I’m speaking about sexism.” Hands gripping the edge of the podium, I began my English speech project with these pensive words, spilling seven years’ worth of brewing sentiment about my experience as a female science student.
Ever since the fifth grade, when I exchanged my dream of wizardry for the next best thing, science, I found myself on a precarious path void of familiar faces. I was one of two girls in my school’s science club, and after twelve years of science education, I had only three female science teachers. The dilemma of the missing girls in my science classes sat firmly in the back of my mind, a microcosm of a national epidemic, yet a predicament that sat close to my heart as an aspiring female scientist. Armed with little more than my pent up frustration and the audience of my English class, I decided to deliver my longstanding thoughts in my speech project, overlooking the minor detail that once I let my emotions out, it would be near impossible to keep them in again.
My words aggravated the fresh wound surrounding sexism in science, brought to
Sharing my experience with my science teachers broke the invisible boundary surrounding sexism in science, motivating tangible action on the subject and encouraging me to continue speaking my mind about girls in science to continue making progress. Most importantly, I realized the strongest weapon I owned, the only thing strong enough to battle apathy and subconscious bias against girls in science classrooms, was the power of my own