I Am a Scientist

By Elda Hegmann

Hello. My name is Elda, and I am a scientist. 

I’m a scientist because of the knowledge and skills I’ve acquired throughout my studies and career. I have known what I wanted to be since I was eight years old, and I have always loved what I do.

As a child, I was fortunate enough to have inspiring teachers who encouraged me to never compare myself to others and to always try my best. The older I became, however, the more things began to change. 

I attended a science-focused high school where the girl/boy ratio was disproportional, to say the least. I would sometimes be one of two girls in a class of 40 students. We were, of course, treated differently. I would often receive a different version of an exam than my cohort, to ensure that I would not cheat, I would be seated at the very front of the class with empty desks surrounding me, once again, to ensure that I would not cheat. Why? Well, how else would a girl receive higher grades than a boy?

This type of behavior lasted through undergrad, and well into grad school. I always knew I was treated this way because of my gender and I always hoped that my daughter would not experience the same challenges that I did. 

While she never had to take an exam in the same conditions I did, being singled out because of her gender in other ways is still far too common. While today we find camaraderie and fight for visibility through hyphenation (female-scientists) or in suffixes (scientist-a) I still dream of a day when we can drop the hyphens, the suffixes and we be identified simply by our most relevant qualifications. 

These hyphens and suffixes place us in opposition to our male counterparts, and are embedded in a history of gender norms, both professional and otherwise (i.e. “male nurse”).

 These hyphens and suffixes place us in a subcategory of scientists, when we make up more than 60% of students at the undergraduate level today.

 These hyphens and suffixes make us secondary to “the real thing,” as they are adaptations, adjustments and contortions of the noun. 

I am no adaptation of a scientist. I require no adjustments. I have not changed the profession. 

I am Elda Hegmann, and I am a scientist.