Four GOP lawmakers reject bills to promote women in science

Submitted by Mastodon on Wed, 2016-03-23 07:24

Article here. Excerpt:

'Yet Republican Reps. Justin Amash (Mich.), Louie Gohmert (Texas) and Thomas Massie (Ky.) voted against both bills. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) supported the science mentorship legislation but opposed the other measure.

Gohmert addressed his vote during a House floor speech later Tuesday afternoon, saying he was concerned the legislation he described as “incredibly well intended” might shortchange some people.

“We want to take time from our $19 trillion in debt to demand that the National Science Foundation discriminate based on gender. There may be some young boy [who] needs encouragement from a tough family situation, but this program is designed to discriminate against that young poverty-stricken boy and to encourage the girl. Forget the boy, encourage the girl,” Gohmert said.

The Texas Republican suggested that forcing the government to prioritize recruiting women could potentially result in a reversed gender gap down the road.'

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People seek employment which fits their needs. The majority of all young women plan to have children, and the word "plan" is somewhat subjective. If a couple wants to pass their genes to future generations, then it is the female partner who has to get pregnant. All healthy sexually active young women are biologically programmed to get pregnant by default. It takes effort to bypass biology to NOT get pregnant.

So knowing that pregnancy will most likely happen at some point in their lives, most women plan for this (even if subconsciously). They choose safer careers. BTW a lot of careers are not healthy for pregnant women (more specifically they can cause birth defects). In nursing, pregnant women cannot do certain jobs, and I can think of many chemicals which are dangerous for developing fetuses. Radiation is also dangerous (X-ray and many other medical equipment) and many careers which involve travel would not be suitable for a pregnant women (Air travel is not recommended past 3 months or anytime during high risk pregnancy)

So trying to force a 50/50 gender ratio in careers is a waste of money and effort. What always cracks me up is the stay at home moms who cheer on this type of legislation, even though they do not choose STEM careers, they claim to be fighting for the "all the other women" who may want to.

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Submitted by Kris on Thu, 2016-03-24 17:15