Less support from women in space exploration? Time to change perception

Women have been historically excluded from the space program.

Business Standard : In March 2019, Vice President Mike Pence stated that the goal of NASA should be to return humans to the Moon by 2024. While the cost of such a venture isn’t known yet, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has supported the effort and gone as far as naming the 2024 Moon mission, Artemis.

The selection of Artemis is no mistake. In Greek mythology, Artemis was the sister of Apollo as well as goddess of the Moon. The name also signals a new focus on the role of women in space exploration.

From my perspective as a space policy analyst, this is an important message for NASA to send. Women have been historically excluded from the space program, especially early on. While women have made inroads both as astronauts and more generally within the NASA ranks since, there remains a significant gender gap in support for space exploration.

And for Artemis to succeed in getting the first woman to the Moon by 2024, a lot of political and public support will be required. But a recent AP-NORC poll found there is not a lot of enthusiasm for going back to the Moon. Only 42% of the 1,137 respondents supported the idea, 20% opposed it, and 38% didn’t care either way. NASA’s efforts to reach out to women should help them garner support, but it is by no means guaranteed.

Women in space and STEM

There is a long-recognized gap in the number of men and women who pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math, with women lagging far behind. Research into this phenomenon has ruled out differences in mental ability. Rather it attributes the gap to the power of stereotypes on young children.

One need look no further than the early space program for evidence of this. The astronauts of the 1950s and 1960s were all men, a natural result of the requirements for astronauts to have a military and test-piloting background. Given that women were not allowed in these fields to begin with, they were excluded.

Some people, like pioneering female pilot Jerrie Cobb and NASA flight surgeon William Lovelace, believed that women were just as capable and perhaps better suited to be astronauts than men. During a House hearing on gender discrimination in NASA, John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, testified to Congress that women didn’t belong in the space program, stating: “The men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes and come back and help design and build and test them. The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order.”