At NASA, 2019 Was the Year of the Woman, Yet Women Still Are a Small

Home , Christina Koch, Women in NASA

At NASA, 2019 was the year of the woman, yet women still are a small minority there By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 12.12.19 Word Count 1,043 Level 1210L

Image 1. NASA astronaut Suni Williams checks an aircraft used for flight training. Photo by: Jonathan Newton/Washington Post

At NASA, 2019 could be considered the year of the woman. In October, astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir completed the first all-female spacewalk when they left NASA's International Space Station for hours to make a repair. Koch also is on her way toward 328 days aboard the International Space Station — the longest single space mission by a woman.

Meanwhile, NASA is planning a moon mission called "Artemis," named after the Greek goddess, which aims to put "the next man and the first woman on the moon" by 2024. The aerospace industry, made up of businesses that design aircraft and spaceships, also boasts an unseen before number of women in high-ranking positions. Leanne Caret leads the defense and space division of Boeing, a top aerospace company. Gwynne Shotwell heads SpaceX, which makes rockets and spacecrafts.

High-Profile Appointments, Record-Breaking Feats Are Rare

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Yet for all the high-profile appointments and record-breaking feats, women remain an overwhelming minority at NASA and in the wider industry. Women make up only about a third of NASA's workforce. They make up just 28 percent of senior executive leadership positions and are only 16 percent of senior scientific employees, according to a survey done by the agency.

In the aerospace industry, only 24 percent of employees are women, and there has been little change in years, according to a study done by Aviation Week.

For many, another example of how far the agency has to go came just a few weeks ago. NASA announced its "honor awards," what it calls its "highest form of recognition" to employees and contractors.

In total, 42 people were honored. Only two were women.

"We haven't moved very much in the last 30 years in overall diversity," said Mary Lynne Dittmar, the president and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, a group in the aerospace industry. "Aerospace is still heavily male and white, and we're not moving very quickly."

Struggling To Get Foothold In Industry

Though perhaps not as obvious as the early days of the space agency, when women were "hidden figures" like the Hollywood movie about female mathematicians employed by NASA showed, sexism persists in an industry long dominated by white men. That has led women to leave science and engineering jobs at rates higher than their male counterparts. Women still struggle to get a foothold in the industry and often find themselves the only women in meetings dominated by men. They might be asked to fetch coffee or even be called "honey."

"That's Dr. Honey to you, and the coffee machine is down the hall and to the right," is how Dittmar responds. She's worked at both Boeing and NASA.

"Those attitudes have gotten better but they haven't completely gone away," said Ellen Stofan, the head of the National Air and Space Museum who previously served as NASA's chief scientist. "To pretend they have does not help us understand why women get paid 80 cents on the dollar and are still only making up 16 to 30 percent of the workforce."

Cultural Change Has Been Slow

Women in the industry acknowledge some improvement in the way they are treated, but cultural change has been slow. Even a term such as "manned spaceflight" continues to be controversial.

In the early 2000s, NASA's style guide was updated. It now includes a section urging that "all references to the space program should be non-gender specific (e.g. human, piloted, unpiloted, robotic, as opposed to manned or unmanned)."

The style guide says the word "manned" should only be used for any "historical program name or official title that included 'manned.'"

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. During an interview with reporters from the International Space Station about the first all-female spacewalk, Koch said she was happy to see the term fading from use. "It's been really nice to see that in the last several years, a lot of that language has been replaced," she said.

It wasn't until 1978, nearly two decades after John Glenn and the rest of the Mercury Seven had been chosen to go to space, that NASA selected its first female astronauts — six of a class of 35. One of those was Sally Ride, who five years later would become the first American woman in space.

Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator, said the agency is making great strides in hiring and promoting women.

"We're making significant progress in this area and have been for a number of years," he said. "We're not done. There's a lot more to do."

Inspiring Tomorrow's Astronauts

He said events like the all-female spacewalk last month are "what inspires tomorrow's astronauts, and we want tomorrow's astronauts to represent all of America."

Women are still an overwhelming minority in many university engineering programs, which can lead to employment in the industry. Harvey Mudd College in California has been working for more than 15 years to attract women to its science, math and engineering programs, where they now represent nearly 50 percent of the enrollment. One important step in that effort was hiring female professors.

"People always talk about how representation matters," said Nancy Lape, an engineering professor at Harvey Mudd. "So right away, when students come into our program, they see women, and they see women in leadership positions."

Professors also encourage teamwork, which can help women and minorities "get a chance to really feel like they belong."

At NASA, Koch is one of 12 women astronauts and could be chosen as the first woman to walk on the moon. This might make her a new generation's Neil Armstrong, as he was the first to walk on the moon.

"Having the honor of being the first woman to walk on the moon is almost too great to fathom," she said. "Of course it would be a dream of mine and has been my entire life."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 Read the following paragraph from the section "Struggling To Get Foothold In Industry."

Which of the following can be inferred about the aerospace industry from the selection above?

(A) It is significantly more sexist than most other industries.

(B) It is viewed as a corrupt industry that has changed little over time.

(D) It is deliberately hiring women for the least desirable positions.

2 Read the following paragraph from the section "Inspiring Tomorrow's Astronauts."

Which idea is BEST supported by this paragraph?

(A) Harvey Mudd graduates more female aerospace engineers than any other college.

(B) Harvey Mudd is the most prestigious college for aerospace engineering in the country.

(D) Harvey Mudd is helping more women get involved in the aerospace industry.

3 Read the following selection.

Which phrase from the section helps to explain what "persists" means?

(A) hidden figures

(B) long dominated

(D) might be asked

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4 The section "Inspiring Tomorrow's Astronauts" includes words such as "fathom" and "dream."

How do these words contribute to the tone of the article?

(A) They convey a sense of relief and security.

(B) They convey a sense that NASA is doing something very risky.

(D) They convey a sense that NASA is changing people's lives.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.