By: Kye Kocher
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV)- March marks the beginning of Women’s History Month. According to research study in 2019, women in the United States only make up 34% of STEM jobs in the workforce.
Caroline Turner, a biology major at the University of Arkansas said that despite these numbers, she has always dreamed of becoming a doctor after college graduation. Turner quickly realized that when she went to class, she would be outnumbered by the number of men in the room.
“There’s really not a lot of women in science and so I think that has also inspired me to take a stand in it,” Caroline said.
Caroline said she wanted to go into this field because she comes from a family of science and medicine. Her mom is a radiologist, which was her main inspiration.
Caroline said she is thankful that she has been able to turn to her mom when she needs advice on a class, or on her future career.
“She has taken practically all the courses that I’ve taken and it’s just really nice to have her as a support being like oh, I took Organic Chemistry as well,” Caroline said.
Caroline’s mom, Dr. Shannon Turner works as a Radiologist in Little Rock, Arkansas. When she graduated, she said that the female to male ratio was also low. Dr. Turner said that representation in the STEM field, because it might help more women join the medical workforce.
“I think women in general tend to make better caretakers such as doctors and nurses and um you know you have a lot of patients prefer to have women doctors and nurses,” Dr. Turner said.
Dr. Shannon Turner said she is glad Caroline followed in her footsteps and chose to go into the medical field.
“I think she will do great. Shes wanting to be an embryologist, and I think that’s a great career for her,” Dr. Turner said.
Dr. Turner said that the dreams Caroline had to go into the medical field are not as out of reach like they used to be, and the number of women in the field continues to increase. Her daughter Caroline also said she notices an increase of women in the field from her Freshman to Senior year of college.
Both of the Turner women said they want to break the stereotype, and work to make sure that women are not treated as a minority in the field. Caroline Turner said that one way that she does this is by wearing the color pink to school.
“There’s a misconception that you can’t be girly and be in STEM, but I would like to deny that claim and say that you can be just as feminine and love science more than any other person,” Caroline said.