Dear July,
I read a tweet that I thought would be nice
because it was a baby picture and baby pictures
are cute and generally have nice captions,
but instead the caption said "Smart ladies,
you can be a scientist or make 8 scientists,
which is better for society?" and Honestly,
that's just a hot mess of a sentiment.
(intro).
So first things first, nobody has to have
kids and pressuring people to have children
is creepy.
Being a parent should be an opt-in experience
because parenting is one of the most demanding
responsibilities you can partake in.
If you want to have kids, great have kids.
If you don't want to have kids, great don't
have kids.
Secondly, let's just abolish the idea that
you can't be a mom and a scientist.
For one thing, lots of scientists have been
parents: Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Galileo
Galilei - all of them had children and made
great scientific discoveries!
Male scientists aren't told that they shouldn't
be scientists because we need them to focus
on being dads - there are tons of working
parents in society and we should be doing
more to support them because their contributions
to society as parents and in their career
are valuable.
Third, let's say a brilliant woman who wants
to pursue a career in STEM gets pressured
into having 8 children and to give up on their
career.
Statistically, half of their children will
be little girls who will be told that their
only value comes from bearing sons - and maybe
they won't watch Mulan and realize that's
a ridiculous notion.
The world loses half its potential when we
tell half the population that they are only
valuable in one aspect of their potential
lives.
We lose half of our potential innovators,
scientists, writers, and great thinkers when
we tell girls that they have to choose between
being a mom and having a career and that their
value should stem from motherhood.
This is a world without Marie Curie and her
pioneering the research on radioactivity,
this is the world without Rosalind Franklin
and her contributions to discovering the molecular
structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and
graphite, this is the world without Ada Lovelace
inventing the idea of the computer long before
the technology would be available to create it.
This is the world where we have significantly
less knowledge about our universe because
we told women that their contributions to
our scientific understanding aren't necessary
and aren't beneficial to society.
Fourth point, 8 kids?
really?
You think someone is going to have 8 kids
and they'll all become scientists?
You can't make your children pursue the career
field you want them to pursue because children
aren't their parent's property.
Children are individuals with their own lives,
skill sets, ideas, and yes at some point careers.
Plus, I have nine siblings and exactly zero
doctors in the family, so trust me trying
to get your kids to pursue the careers you
want them does not work.
Just ask my parents.
In conclusion, an infinite amount of "Nope"
Love, Katrina.
Post-Script: Please subscribe, watch another
one of my videos, or support me on patreon.
And, hey, I love you.
