Beyond the “safe” path: South Asian women choosing boldness in STEM

Being a woman of colour, and particularly being a South-Asian woman in science, we are constantly posed with the question of, ‘Oh, so you are working within the science field…are you training to become a doctor or a dentist?’ with other medical/healthcare-related fields being completely invisible.

My name is Riya Verma, and I currently work as the Senior Video Content Creator and a Resident Reality Blog Writer for WiNUK. As a South-Asian female trying to build a career within the neuroscience field, I am aware of the first-hand challenges that we, as South-Asian females, face when attempting to explain the importance and relevance of our research and fields of study, for example, within the South-Asian culture. Within this blog, I hope to highlight some of the implicit gender biases within South-Asian culture, as well as the lack of South-Asian female representation within science, and the impact that this has on the wider community. With reflection and recognition, we may get one step closer to determining actionable points to help significantly reduce these biases.

Within my role at WiNUK, I want to work to expand the narrative for young South-Asian women in STEM who look just like me; not having individuals to look up to that look similar to you, or who personally understand the additional hardships that we undergo as South-Asian females, can be really challenging. So, I hope to my fellow South-Asian females who are reading this right now, that you feel seen and your feelings feel validated, and I want you to know that you too can achieve anything that your male counterparts can!

So, let’s take a deep dive into what specific hardships South-Asian females in STEM face. As it stands today, many individuals within South-Asian culture do not ultimately view male and females equally. This can sometimes manifest with females not being taken as seriously in their career as their male counterparts, instead feeling the need to constantly prove themselves and having their professional achievements overlooked or undervalued. The points we are going to discuss within this blog directly align with WiNUK’s wider mission of advocating for females within neuroscience, as well as helping to improve the representation of minorities within science globally.

Cultural pressures of pursuing allied health careers as a South-Asian female

The cultural landscape for South-Asian females in STEM is deeply rooted in the historical/societal expectation for females to remain in domesticated positions, which still lingers today. This cultural barrier has contributed to the lack of representation of South-Asian females within higher education institutes, as well as causing their career achievements/milestones to go unrecognised or remain invisible to the wider community.

More specifically, myself alongside many others within the South-Asian community face huge cultural pressures to pursue careers such as dentistry or medicine, as opposed to exploring other allied health careers. Why does this remain an ongoing issue within the South-Asian community? After having extensive conversations with family members and friends from similar backgrounds, they discussed reasons associated with supposed high financial security and the high status of these roles to wider communities as reasons why such careers are so highly valued. However, whilst the world will always need doctors and dentists due to the extensive health-related conditions many of us face, why are associated scientific areas such as neuroscience considered as ‘less important’ or ‘less relevant’ within the medical world? Are such careers not valued as much, simply because the impact of their work is not as immediately visible or direct? Yet, behind every medical breakthrough and clinical advancement lies complex scientific research. And so, this highlights that the progress being made within sectors such as medicine and dentistry deeply depends on fundamental research conducted by allied health professionals, like neuroscientists, whose critical contribution is often overlooked.

Staying on the topic of cultural pressures within South-Asian culture, there also seems to be some underlying and sometimes overt gender stereotypes regarding the type of careers that women and men should do. Within South-Asian culture, careers within STEM are not widely encouraged to females; some individuals do not encourage females to pursue higher educational courses at all. It is possible that this stems from previous societal pressures that kept females within domesticated positions where they were unable to pursue higher education and, even when women did manage to pursue higher education, their career achievements were rarely recognised or celebrated. Whilst there has been a significant improvement in the way that female education is advocated amongst the South-Asian community, there is still a lot left to do for women and men to be given the same opportunities and the same recognition for their work.

My own journey into neuroscience

One of the reasons I wanted to volunteer for WiNUK, specifically, is to be able to work with like-minded individuals in helping to achieve the bigger goal of advocating for women in STEM-based fields and help to reduce the gender bias within such communities. I wanted to be able to provide a new perspective for WiNUK where I am able to effectively represent the South-Asian community and shed a light to the challenges that we specifically face as women of colour to help to combat issues surrounding the historical gender inequalities that exist within our culture. I hope that this blog helps to change the narrative for women who just look like me and you…

My journey into neuroscience was not your typical route and did come with its fair share of challenges and bumps along the road… I have always been a very analytical person, so I was always fascinated by the brain and psychology and loved learning about this amazing machinery that makes every person individual and unique. I think this interest sparked from a non-fiction book that I was given as a birthday present as a child titled, ‘See inside your body,’ where it would open to a double page spread that showed the entire anatomy of the human body where each organ had a flap which uncovered an interesting fact. I was in awe about how intricate the autonomous procedures that occurred within the human body to allow it to function daily.

With my deep interest in human biology, as well as the underlying cultural pressure within my community, I decided that I wanted to study Medicine to become a doctor. I had initially decided to study Medicine with an intercalated year in neuroscience; however, due to prolonged health challenges following COVID-19 infection, I made the decision to study Neuroscience at the University of Warwick.  Despite this decision almost feeling like it was somewhat beyond my control, I am incredibly grateful that it worked out the way that it did as neuroscience as a subject, as well as the opportunities it offers, is something that deeply excites and resonates with me.

The transition from an intention to study Medicine, a path strongly encouraged by those around me, to wanting to study an area of medical research that was not widely discussed at the time, was definitely a very challenging period as a South-Asian female navigating cultural norms. I was faced with large amounts of questions and hesitations upon my decision to switch career paths, mainly because individuals around me had a limited understanding about what the subject area entailed or what career opportunities it could offer after university. In addition to this, I was one of the few people within my family to study a career similar to Neuroscience, so I felt this underlying pressure to justify this decision I made and prove that a career within the neuroscience field was just as valuable and meaningful as a career as a physician. With this came a lot of frustration, which almost became a defence mechanism whereby I found myself trying to validate the importance of studying a subject like neuroscience to others.

Gendered expectations in science and culture within South-Asian culture

As we have previously discussed, there are prominent gender stereotypes present within South-Asian culture today. This involves females within our community not being widely encouraged to pursue higher-level positions, higher education entirely, or to build careers within male dominated fields/professions, such as STEM careers for example.

Whilst there has been slow but steady progression in addressing this gender bias within STEM, specifically through organisations such as WiNUK, there remains to be a clear lack of visible South-Asian women in STEM/academia/research for them to share their stories and act as role models or mentors for the younger generation. So, why does there seem to be this huge lack of representation for South-Asian females within STEM? With pre-existing cultural stereotypes, the cultural silence surrounding South-Asian women in science prevents their work from being recognised and celebrated across social media and within the workplace. As a result, many young South-Asian females may feel discouraged from pursuing careers in STEM fields as they do not believe that they are able to pave the way for a successful career as a South-Asian female neuroscientist, for example, as opposed to their white counterparts. And so, this lack of visible representation not only limits future aspirations of South-Asian females but also brings forward the idea that such careers are not meant for people who look like them.

How can we change this narrative for South-Asian females in STEM?

The first step to helping to reduce the gender bias within communities begins with raising awareness and highlighting the ongoing challenges. Once we have been able to raise awareness that such inequalities are occurring, it is important for us to translate this into meaningful, actionable changes. This could lead to females being given equal opportunities to their male counterparts, as well as being able to create an environment that encourages them to pursue any career they are passionate about, no matter how out of reach it may initially seem.

There are several impactful ways we can begin to shift the narrative for South-Asian females wanting to enter traditionally male-dominated fields like STEM:

1.      Share our small wins amongst within network, either within the workplace or across social media as South-Asian women in STEM

2.      Share passion projects as South-Asian women in STEM with your wider network that are seen to defy ‘typical’ gender stereotypes whether you're hosting a neuroscience podcast for early-career researchers, running science workshops for young girls, or employing artistic approaches to illustrate brain connectivity and the effects of neurodegenerative diseases. These initiatives challenge outdated norms and showcase science as a field that is creative, inclusive, and socially impactful.

3.      Create open-ended, supportive mentorship opportunities tailored to the younger generation of South-Asian females, helping them to navigate careers in male-dominated fields with guidance from those who share similar cultural backgrounds/experiences

4.      Foster open and honest conversations within the community where you begin to challenge gender stereotypes, engage with different viewpoints to understand the thought processes behind them, and help to slowly shift perceptions of South-Asian females in STEM and higher education

5.      Share examples of other South-Asian females in similar fields who have broken gender norms in science, research and innovation to help inspire upcoming South-Asian females in STEM

6.      Establish dedicated networking and support groups for South-Asian females where they can share their challenges with each other, exchange experiences, and build a sense of female empowerment within the community

Conclusion

As we have discussed, females and other minorities such as South-Asian females undergo huge gender- and cultural-stereotypes that do not help to foster supportive, uplifting environments which allow them to believe they can achieve anything they set their mind to. However, through shedding light on these challenges within our individual communities, and implementing actionable solutions such as increased mentorship opportunities, we can create supportive networks, share and celebrate small career wins as South-Asian females in science, and break the barriers to help pave the way for future generations of scientists.

And just a final message to all my fellow South-Asian females in science…never let anyone make you doubt your potential. Your passion and perseverance can turn your dreams into reality – even if you don’t believe it just yet.

Resources

Human biology book (for school years 1-9):

1. See Inside Your Body by Katie Daynes and Colin King

See Inside Your Body : Katie Daynes, Colin King: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Two book recommendations for those looking to get into neuroscience:

1.      The Brain: The Story of You by David Eagleman

 The Brain: The Story of You : Eagleman, David: Amazon.co.uk: Books 

2.      The Nocturnal Brain by Guy Leschziner

The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience and the Secret World of Sleep: Amazon.co.uk: Leschziner, Dr Guy: 9781471176357: Books

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This article was written by Riya Verma and edited by Lauren Wallis, with graphics produced by Saba Keshan. If you enjoyed this article, be the first to be notified about new posts by signing up to become a WiNUK member (top right of this page)! Interested in writing for WiNUK yourself? Contact us through the blog page and the editors will be in touch.