Any woman in a male-dominated field can tell you stories of comments they鈥檝e gotten along the lines of 鈥淥h, it must be hard to be the only girl鈥� or 鈥淲ow, you鈥檙e in [insert field here], you must be so smart鈥�. Women in these jobs often have a feeling that they don鈥檛 belong in their own careers. Feeling like you don鈥檛 belong somewhere can cause our mechanisms to kick in, which causes stress. Furthermore, this can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. This isn鈥檛 talked about enough and what better time to talk about it than ?
Women in STEM and Mental Health
May 11, 2018
written by: alicen ricard
May 7-13, 2018 is Mental Health Week and the has a great #GetLoud campaign on Twitter to show what mental health really is, and to take away some of the stigma.
Women have so much pressure to excel in these fields because they feel like they have to be better than the men to prove they鈥檙e 鈥渨orthy鈥� of being there. This kind of thinking leads to imposter syndrome. This feeling out of place also . Stress can which can lead to many stress-related disorders鈥攐ne of those being anxiety. in STEM fields, , without the added pressure of being a 鈥渕inority鈥� in one of these fields. Anxiety is an to protect the individual from danger. The more one worries, the less likely they are to do dangerous things. That was fine when it comes to protecting ourselves from things in nature that could harm us, but we shouldn鈥檛 have to feel this way about day to day life and our careers.
Women in STEM fields are more likely to suffer from depression than men are. In 7.2% of women in life-physical-social sciences reported at least one bout of depression in the year the study was performed versus 2.3% of men. 11.1% of women reported depression in engineering-architecture-surveying versus 3.3% of men. In mathematics and computer science, 10.4% of women reported versus 4.6% of men. Imagine all the innovative ideas these women could be having if they weren't experiencing these higher levels of stress?
This is why is so important, even if it means making tough decisions or disappointing people, for your own well-being. Learning your limits and when you can鈥檛 take on anymore projects or tasks, is so important. We live in a society where we all strive for perfection, and having the pressure of being in a career where you feel like you have to prove yourself doesn鈥檛 help. Something we can all learn is the words 鈥済ood enough鈥�. Being able to do a good job without sacrificing your mental health is better overall than reaching perfection with detriment to your health. No one is actually going to look down on you for taking care of yourself. After all, if you can鈥檛 take care of yourself, you can鈥檛 get anything else done.
Even further than what we can do for ourselves, is what we can do as a society. The more we close the gender gap and the more women succeed in STEM careers, the less pressure they will feel as the "only women" in those fields. Less pressure could lead to less stress and in the long run to less mental health issues in women in STEM, overall. We鈥檙e getting there but we鈥檙e not quite there yet.