The Scientific Reality of Ethnicity & Sexism in Science

"Reality is not composed of things -in themselves or things behind phenomena - but things in phenomena." - Karen Barad

In the world of the study of science, there is a constant process. There lies the observer and the observed, within the realm of the observation. Scientists have been long known fill the observer's role. The observed can be a myriad of different subjects, from lower levels of life in the biological world to conditions of the human body. The observation is that in which both the observer and the observed function simultaneously-the observation is, indeed, an example of true reality.

Inherently, despite the aspirations of a perfect, numerical scientific method in explaining the nuances and the many mysteries of life, science is imperfect. As life is imperfect, people are also imperfect. Therefore, if people, who are the observers and calculators of the science world, are imperfect, the way in which science is poked and prodded is imperfect. This is largely due to the lack of symmetry of men and women in the science world.

In the aforementioned quote, Barad has referred to this distinct reality as an abstract version of reality, relative to the science world. Her agential realism is a Bohr-assisted interpretation of intra-action. But her words, when placed in a broader scope of everyday life, are applicable in solutions to incompetence and general ignorance. In the Western world, the ideas of social equality are preached and announced from every hill and mountain top, this reality is skewed. Men are given higher social value over women, on the whole. While women of present day are worlds away from yesteryear fights for equality in and outside of the workplace, opportunities regarding education and career options in research lean toward the male population.