Do Earthly Gender bias exist in aerospace?

 McClain agony “ Female Astronauts, it seems, have never been high on NASA’s list of priorities.”

Source: The New York Times

Females in Space Science experience twice the negative environment than men. Historically, women are always under-represented in every discipline. The contributions of women in science paradigm especially in planetary science are not given much worth from the ages back. Statistically, in 2013, among the 534 homo-sapiens in space, only 57 are women which are 11% only. In the International Space Station, among 126 astronauts, 26 are women which are 20% only.

Through the hard numbers and soft perspective, we have witnessed less focus on gender neutrality in space programs. Women suffer from the lack of a comfortable environment, un-adjustable and unfitted spacesuit in the Earth as well as in the Outer Space. They face post-flight orthostatic intolerance after being lifted from the space which must be fixed. These issues of minority repression, lack of diversity and lack of identity must be addressed through the global platforms Of United Nations to make more people aware of the existing issues in the space domain. The private companies must relook at their policies of recruitment in their space programs and make it more inclined towards equal representation. The government of most of the countries in the world have rights to equality irrespective of any gender and race in pen and paper. The space program materials must be made taking into account the relevant issues of women. 

As per the experiment done in the Hubble Telescope Institute, in which both the proposals and the reviewers have not disclosed the identity while submitting the proposal papers, the results were encouraging for women. Among the 40 successful proposals, 12 were of women and 8.7% was the success rate while men had 8% success rate. The women and men witness huge differences while space exploration. In an experiment named VECTION for  200 days, in which the vestibular process was examined of both men and women because they possess different chemical and physical resources which may react differently. Women have more losses in blood than men. On earth, women develop more immunity than men. Women get more affected by the radiation, so, the high radiation of space shall harm more to women than men. Women experience more space motion sickness.

Brinda Rana, an associate professor at the University of California stated the importance of examining the changes of both men and women after arriving from outer space. As there are very few female astronauts have gone to space till now, so the experiment has not been done very broadly. The 21st century is experiencing a lot of changes in diversity and initial approaches to gender neutrality by the entry of many women space researchers and women astronauts. These issues must be put into light in broader and bigger world platforms. The word "Gender" has been much discussed in political, sociological, economical and academic platforms. Gender has a much broader perspective in our life. “Gender equality” is a term which has been discussed in various global platforms, researched broadly and protested in millions of ways, but still it lacks somewhere in making its ultimate representation. It must be relooked with a diverse mindset and a new approach.

Source: The Economic Times

The youths in the space discipline must get more involved through various programs to make sure the diversity is well maintained. This is a huge issue which is not so easy to represent. This is an age-old issue which is depicted in every stage of our activity. It needs to be rooted out which is possible when all human beings get aware of the difficulties of the gender minority. Women used to face depression, oppression, lynch and inequality, etc.

Source: Newsweek

Future should have more female astronauts concerning more diversity and research. In Earth as well as in space, the government as well as in private, the female should have equal representation in every space program. The STEAM field always had fewer females from the ages which must be changed. The importance must be given to individual astronauts who are ready for space exploration. Every stage starting from the designing to constructing to the launching must include the equal numbers of females. Space research must include gender-neutral approaches and schemes. The government alone cannot make a visible change. The intra-governmental approach with private departments can bring together a good future.