Azadeh

Azadeh Shirzadi is a Science School teacher at the Ontario Science Centre, and the Founder of STEMneutral. STEMneutral’s mission is to neutralize the implicit biases that men and women have and face in STEM careers, and to create a level playing field for all.

My name is Azadeh and I’m a high school science teacher at the Ontario Science Centre. When I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I always volunteered helping and mentoring youth, and participating in outreach programs. This is something I continued to do during my undergrad at the University of Toronto.

My plan was to apply to teachers college but a TA in my class pointed out that my grades were high and suggested I do graduate work. I couldn't afford any more schooling and he told me, “They’ll pay you!” This was a very novel and exciting prospect for me. I got into a direct entry a PhD program in chemistry, but decided to finish with a Masters instead, as I didn’t enjoy doing research. I did enjoy being a TA; I liked teaching and helping people learn. So, I took one year off and worked at the AGO and then enrolled in Teacher’s College.

I came to Canada when I was 9 years old. My family was on welfare and I have always juggled part time jobs and school. This taught me time management and communication skills. I missed out on opportunities like sports and clubs - but I learned so many valuable skills that made who am I am.

 

Don’t be afraid to fail. Some students get a bad mark and they think that mark defines who they are. In our culture, failure is seen as toxic, but it is better to fail and learn from it, because failure leads to growth and a deeper understanding of who you are.

 

It’s a small world. You run into people all the time that you think you may never cross paths with again. Always treat people with respect and fairness. You never know when your paths may cross again. You may need to rely on people for a job, or help. Do onto others as you would have others do unto you.

 

The ones that weren’t that nice. I remember being told by one teacher, that they didn’t care whether I passed or failed, they would get paid no matter what. I remember teachers throwing chairs around the room. I knew I didn’t want to be that teacher. School is such a pivotal time in people’s lives, and if you’re not a resilient person, it can really diminish your love of learning. As a teacher, I want to provide my students with the opposite experience of those negative memories.

 

It stemmed (pun intended) from discussions that I would have with my students when I presented them with interesting articles around gender bias in science. Some of my students would disagree, claiming that our society treats all people equally, that we all have the same opportunities, and dismissed me as a “feminist.” I felt I needed to have a wider breadth of knowledge around the topic to dismantle these unrealistic views. Originally, I thought I wanted the workshop to be just for girls, to strengthen their voice and exert their will in our biased world.. As I started doing my research, I realized that this was the wrong approach, and that men need to be involved in the conversation and need to be part of the solution. Women are equally likely to have bias against other women – the issue is systemic and needs to be addressed in a fashion that doesn’t assume that only men are biased against women.

 

I’m hoping to be able to run professional development workshops for teachers, as well as elementary and secondary school workshops. Ultimately I want a gender stereotype analysis  to be embedded in the curriculum and something that is addressed in all courses.

 

Starting at the age of six, children develop stereotypes around brilliance and intelligence. Six year old girls stop self-identifying as intelligent. Giving them a toolkit with things they can do immediately that can help improve their chances when dealing with group dynamics and stereotype threat when taking tests would be helpful. And for the boys, check yourself - are you consistently interrupting females in group dynamics? We can all make small adjustments to our behaviours to help make a more neutral playing field for all.

 

Cultural conditioning. It starts from the moment when we put that pink shirt on that baby. I strongly believe it does not have anything to do with biology, or a lack of interest in science. Girls are just as curious and capable as boys. The barriers are cultural. In Canada, women were only considered “persons” according to the law about 100 years ago. We’ve made immense strides since that time, but we still have a long way to go. With advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, how can we ensure that machines don’t develop and amplify the same cultural biases we all carry?

 

Don’t treat them any different from boys. Provide them with things that will broaden their minds. Don’t pigeon-hole them by giving them only kitchen toys and dolls.

I read a study about what fathers can do specifically in encouraging their young girls. It is that much more powerful if their fathers are encouraging math and science learning and don’t encourage gender stereotypes. There seems to be something special about that dynamic.

 

Speak up. It can be uncomfortable, especially if you’re a natural introvert. In this world, if you don’t stand up for yourself, nobody else will. Ask questions, get out there. What is the worst thing that someone can say to you? Exert you will.

 

I just finished reading The Confidence Code. This book examines the science of confidence. It dissects how much of it is genetic, and how much is learned behaviour. It gives ideas on how to encourage women to develop more confidence through sport, dealing with failure, and striving for goals.

 

I was reading up on artificial intelligence this morning and I found a set of studies about gender bias in AI. Think about all your personal assistant bots – Siri, Alexa and Cortana. Why do all of the administrative assistant AIs have female names and voices, whereas the Salesforce’s AI, completing “higher order” tasks is named after, Einstein, a male?

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