Gender Stereotypes in China in STEM
The story of my student Computer Science student Aliez.
I am so proud of this girl. Aliez joined my Computer Science class two years ago after a heavy debate with her parents that she couldn't do it, because "Computer Science is not for girls".
I fought against this stigma, empowered her in class and talked to her mom multiple times about this on how I believed in her skills and girls can do CS (or any STEM field). Yes, this is China and yes, there are still very traditional ideas when it comes to gender stereotyping. Aliez was struggling with the abstract part of the course, particularly algorithm design, but her work ethic is beyond anything I have seen before.
She worked extremely hard in my class, she did all that I asked her to when it comes to programming assignments, technical networking stuff. She took it all in. Her notes are among the best I've ever seen. In the first year she got a low grade for her CS exam. Her mom told me.."you see, girls can't do CS". Aliez was almost crying next to her mom in the parent-teacher conference.
I lectured her on how I believe Aliez could do it, step up her game and pass my course with a high grade. And guess what happened? She rocked in her senior 3 year and was able to get an A* (the highest grade in A-level) for Computer Science! #NoGenderStereotyping #Girls4STEM
