Women In Science?!?!

Scientist. What do you think of when someone says that word? I'll bet you think of lab coats and goggles and test tubes. And I'll bet that you think of men wearing lab coats, men wearing goggles, and men holding test tubes. Yeah.
I've been on an amazing course called "Discover!" every Saturday for the last six weeks, and I can assure you, that's not the only way scientists look/dress/act.
I know what you're thinking. "Oh, for goodness' sake, another science lecture?" But that's not what this blog post is about. I'm not a professor, and I'm not a professional scientist. I'm a girl who wants to end these idiotic media-induced delusions about scientists.

Okay, firstly, not all scientists are men. There are as many women as men working in science-related careers.

But how do we think about female scientists? Although there are many women working in science, there is still much debate about their representation in media relating to men.
Having typed "women in science" into Google Images, this is one of the pictures that turned up:

How stereotypical.
Look at the way she's dressed - white lab coat, goggles. Look at her hair notetextbook and a vial of green liquid. Now look at it tell me that's not what you see in your mind's eye every time you think of a female scientist. You can't, can you?
 I have met a number of female scientists throughout this course, and that is definitely not the way they all looked.
Not all science careers involve lab work - there are so many different things you can do! And not all scientists have to dress like this - you can wear different things to do different jobs, it's mostly just a matter of safety.
There have been organisations set up expressly for the purpose of educating girls and young women in order to encourage them to take up "unusual" careers for women, and to dispell the myths created by the different types of media. WISE (Women Into Science, Engineering and Construction) is just one of these. It fund courses like the one I am on now. These courses take groups of girls to experience different scientific environments, and help them to decide what they think. Personally, I've been finding it very helpful and informative. You can visit the official website of WISE here.
Okay, so I'm not going to start ranting on about this stuff, I just wanted to say that I really don't think that people should be blinded by the stereotypes of modern society when they're looking at this issue, as being a woman or girl in science is not something strange or wrong, it's just another way you might want to live your life.

Well, that's about it. Hope I wasn't too boring... xD