domingo, 8 de mayo de 2011

La sociedad civil mexicana ante la violencia
Samuel F. Velarde

Mucho se ha escrito a propósito de la violencia producto del combate al narcotráfico, miles han sido los muertos como consecuencia, sin embargo la sociedad hasta el momento había permanecido si no callada, si poco organizada para manifestar su descontento ante los hechos. Cada día a lo largo y ancho del país, muere gente a raíz del combate al narcotráfico, sin embargo los resultados no son precisamente entre un estado de derecho en toda la extensión de la palabra, donde la ley se enfrentara al crimen y hasta ahí, el problema fundamental es que en esta lucha, han caído miles de personas inocentes que nada tenían que ver con los directamente involucrados en actos ilícitos. Es decir, una “guerra” que se fue deslegitimando en la medida en que la sociedad civil se ve ofendida por la delincuencia, pero también por los aparatos de seguridad del mismo Estado, donde los daños colaterales victimizan a personas inocentes, en otras palabras la sociedad queda atrapada como en un sándwich de violencia, literalmente entre dos fuegos.

Por desgracia, tuvo que morir el hijo de un poeta y periodista, para que hubiera un desborde de inconformidad y finalmente se diera una marcha nacional como protesta ante el hartazgo de violencia, que si se usan datos duros, se podría comparar México con un país con guerra civil. Hoy domingo 8 de mayo, la sociedad civil a lo largo y ancho de la nación salió a las calles, con más ahínco, más contestataria. Curiosamente, ni con la muerte del hijo de un prominente empresario, se había levantado tanta indignación como ahora, por supuesto se han acumulado miles de voces desesperadas y el hartazgo verdaderamente se palpa, pero también no hay que obviar la presencia del sector intelectual, de donde proviene Javier Sicilia.

Si volteamos a los países despóticos del Magreb árabe y del oriente medio, el hartazgo se produce por años de soportar a una clase política cuasi parasitaria y totalmente desfasada de las necesidades de la sociedad civil actual, entonces que no sea sorpresa que en México la violencia haya cansado a una sociedad que aguanta, pero que a la vez esta fatigada de que en lugar de avanzar en democracia y calidad de vida, sea lo contrario. Esperamos que la institucionalidad, la razonabilidad de la clase política, la fuerza plural de la sociedad civil y los intelectuales comprometidos, sean los ingredientes para una solución realista, pero con el consenso de la mayoría social.

martes, 3 de mayo de 2011

Analyzing Gender in Science                                    


M.C. Carlos Rubén Páez P. *

I will start with this quote that defines very well what means gender in a field like science, Zittleman and Sadker (2003) state “just being female was a special handicap in science” (p.61). Once, anyone hears this statement he or she can understand easily the inequality for women in the field of science. Norton (2009) affirms “the realm of science is an excellent example of a power structure which has been shaped by its history of predominantly white, upper-class influence” (p. 9). Women attraction to science field as you can see could be very small as well as any other minority group. Imagine a black women excelling in the science field it was almost something impossible to see.
Given the circumstances, every contribution to science made by women deserves more recognition than a male contribution because unequal conditions suggest it. For women require more effort excel in the science filed. As Nieto (2003) establish inclusive education needs to be accompanied by a deep commitment to social justice and equal access to resources” (p. 10). If social justice is not there and equality does not exist, then the results will be the same always. Every step made by women in science field requires more than for a men. Social justice is needed here definitively.
Tindall and Hamill (2004) argue research conducted since twenty years until today has consistently revealed that gender discrimination in schools remains, especially in the areas of science and mathematics. Many experts can argue that women enrollment in college has increased in the field of STEM** but how many of them finish the program? This number of graduate women is almost equal to the number of graduate men on those fields? Enrollment is not the whole solution to the problem. As Sriraman and Steinthorsdottir (2007) establish “it seems to us that females seem to have to adapt to male ways of knowing” (p. 199). With those practices we are discouraging female students in the continuing of their studies in the STEM fields because the problem go beyond enrollment. In order to retain female students in STEM fields it is necessary to change the way of teaching that is male-dominated. Most of the characteristics of teaching in schools transmit behaviors that alienate women. Parks (2010) analysis examine persuasive techniques, such as metaphor, simile, and analogy, as a way of calling attention to dominant ideas in a discourse, rather than looking closely at human interactions in social settings. Even discourse must be change in terms of gender equality. A deeper analysis must be done in teaching styles.
Morganson, Jones and Major (2010) establish “whereas women are attending college at unprecedented rates and constitute more than half of university and college populations, they continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)” (p. 169). Even though, girls enroll in STEM programs and also finish them, once they finish they struggle to have a place in the labor field. The STEM environment is often characterized as a chilly climate, which tends to be male-dominated, highly impersonal, and individualistic (Morganson, Jones and Major (2010). In addition, few females are considered in textbooks as contributors in science. Thus, it is a long path to cover in order to give justice to women. One step has been reached, enrollment, but there are many other steps still waiting to be reached.
According to Martin and Siry (2009) “scientist´s gender is central to the shape of the story” (p. 953). Gender in science is very powerful; inequities between the genders are demonstrated by literacy rates (Liu and Carpenter, 2005). Since long time ago, women has suffered discrimination; for instance, not much time ago bibliography rules change because now a reference does not include the first name of the author, it only has the last name. This change was made because not much time ago when a reader was searching for a source, when he or she find a good publication title he or she was interested to read it but when he or she discover the gender of the author and it was written by a female, automatically they lost interest on it, incredible but true.
Collaboration between feminist and scientist could help to eliminate the gender gap changing the culture of science perhaps. One of the major problems that many times is left aside and have a great impact is women´s need for balancing family and career (Bystydzienski, 2004). Historically, women have been affected by this particular issue and continue to affecting them.

**STEM.- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics



* Ingeniero electrónico (ITCJ), Maestro en Matemáticas Educativas (UACJ) y actualmente estudia el doctorado en Educación, Aprendizaje y Cultura en la Universidad de Texas en El Paso (UTEP)

Cited works
Bystydzienski, J. M. (2004). (Re)Gendering Science Fields. NWSA Journal, 16 (1), 6-12.

Liu, J. and Carpenter, M. (2005). Trends and Issues of Women's Education in China. The

Clearing House, 78 (6), 277-281.

Martin, S. N. and Siry C. A. (2009). Raising critical issues in the analysis of gender and science

in children’s literature. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 4 (4), 951-960.

Morganson, V. J., Jones, M. P. and Major, D. A. (2010). Understanding women's

underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics: the role of social coping. The Career Development Quarterly, 59 (2), 169-179.

Nieto, S. (2003). Profoundly multicultural questions. Educational Leadership, 60 (4), 6-10.

Norton, C. G. (2009). Inclusive science: articulating theory, practice, and action. NWSA

Journal, 21 (2), 7-12.

Parks, A. N. (2010). Metaphors of hierarchy in mathematics education discourse: the narrow

path. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 42 (1), 79-97.

Sriraman, B. and Steinthorsdottir, O. (2007). Emancipatory and social justice perspectives in

mathematics education. Interchange, 38 (2), 195-202.

Zittleman, K. and Sadker, D. (2003).Teacher education textbooks: the unfinished gender

revolution. Education Leadership, 60 (4), 59-63.