Women Should Embrace The B's By Catherine Rampell Summary

834 Words4 Pages
The gender gap in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) has been an enduring problem, and new research shows that the gap is widening. Washington Post Op-Ed writer Catherine Rampell discusses one potential reason for this in her article, “Women should embrace the B’s in college to make more later”. The author presents her case based on new research showing that women in fact hate getting B’s. Rampell’s thesis positions that women are selling themselves short by fixating on grades (1). If women’s grades decline in STEM, economics, or other quantitative fields, women often switch majors to pursue more forgiving humanities degrees. However, since STEM majors usually command the highest median salaries, women are missing out on future earning potential (10). To that end, in “Embrace the B’s”, Catherine Rampell uses research studies to evoke her audience’s thoughts and attitudes toward affecting change in these disciplines, while continuing the larger conversation regarding gender inequality. First, the author helps…show more content…
The Duke study is preliminary and inconclusive, and Rampell’s interviews with Harvard researcher Goldin cross into speculation at times. While this does weaken her specific argument to a degree, Rampell chose to publish this article as an op-ed piece, not a research study. Her main goal is to strengthen the ongoing conversation about gender inequality, as it is the kind of topic needing continued awareness to affect change. With that in mind, Rampell’s background as a Princeton University graduate and former Economix writer for the New York Times may help explain why she also finds this topic to be important from an economic perspective. One can easily grasp that women may be missing out on future earnings, but perhaps more so, these STEM fields are missing out on women’s unique philosophies of problem solving; hindering novel
Open Document