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Nina Davuluri speaking out for Aids prevention education.
Nina Davuluri speaking out for Aids prevention education. Photograph: Kevin Dooley/Wikimedia
Nina Davuluri speaking out for Aids prevention education. Photograph: Kevin Dooley/Wikimedia

Does Miss America really promote gender equality in science?

This article is more than 9 years old

Despite good intentions and a strong dedication to the promotion of science and technology, pageant winners chosen largely by their attractiveness in swimsuits perpetuate gender inequality and serve as poor role models

The lives of scientists can be seen as a microcosm for the world at large – tenure and promotion, hierarchies, friction between faculty or between students and faculty, university politics and so on. Even marketing and branding have worked their way into scientific and academic circles. So it probably shouldn’t be surprising to find that academic science reflects the very same gender inequality that permeates society as a whole.

This week two independent and seemingly unrelated arrivals in the mail provided me with the impetus to write this post. The first was an advertising supplement packaged in a non-environmentally friendly plastic wrap together with the journal Nature. The second was an article/interview co-written by the talented American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) senior science writer, Dr Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay, and ASBMB Public Outreach Coordinator, Dr Geoffrey Hunt.

The advertising supplement showcased a scientific research institute in a middle-eastern country. I certainly applaud the desire of every country to support science and this goal is great way to advance society and its economy. In fact, it would be wise for the US and other leading countries to remember how crucial science and technology are as drivers of the economy! At the same time, however, I find it impossible to accept the exclusion of women from science (and society as a whole). In such a country where women can only drive an automobile with permission from a male family member, there will undoubtedly be inequality in scientific opportunities.

As scientists, we should never turn our backs on brother (and hopefully some) sister scientists, but do our best to support them and help their science expand. Simultaneously, we need to pressure our leaders – those of the wealthy democratic countries– to use their influence to fight for the rights of women in such countries.

But even in countries that have legal provisions for equality between the genders, true equality has yet to be achieved. The well-written ASBMB article tells the story of Nina Davuluri, a recent winner of the “Miss America” competition, but there is a much more complex gender-related issue afoot...

What is the “Miss America” competition? You tell me – from the website it is difficult to comprehend exactly what constitutes the basis for competition. This programme has a very sophisticated website which stresses the educational mission of the organization, lists a few of the criteria for applying and competing (including age, general health and well-being), and has a lot of information on how scholarships have helped young women to succeed in a variety of careers, including the sciences and medicine. The site also describes worthy ‘platforms’ that each contestant must choose – a social issue dear to her heart, such as domestic violence, HIV or literacy.

The one camouflaged criterion, apparently to avoid outcries from people like me, relates to the ‘beauty’ part of the competition. Yes, it appears that since the days of my youth, when I last might have observed such a competition, the organization has laundered its image. But platforms aside, we must not forget that these young women are still paraded in bathing suits and chosen based on their physical attractiveness – even if additional non-physical criteria are also included.

Despite my abhorrence of this enterprise, I must admit that based on the article, Miss Davuluri appears to be an exceptionally talented and intelligent young women, who has faced and fought bigotry and racism, and is a tireless advocate for science and technology. As noted by Miss Davuluri in the article, “The general public sees that one night of competition”, but “They don’t see what we do the other 364 days of the year”. Having logged over 200,000 miles in the past year as an advocate of science and STEM – including lobbying members of Congress to promote science, she knows what she’s talking about.

And yet, by supporting the Miss America enterprise – even with all of the very positive things that Miss Davuluri has done – she is conforming to a male-chauvinistic and anachronistic institution that perpetuates inequality into the 21st century. As a man, I can fight to the best of my abilities for gender equality – but women – no matter how well-intentioned – will need to resist the temptation to participate in competitions that raise them to a pedestal by virtue of their physical attractiveness.

Steve Caplan is a principal investigator and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

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