Monday, October 28, 2019

First All-Female Spacewalk

A week and a half ago, on October 18th, 2019, the first all-female spacewalk took place. It's hard to believe this didn't happen long before this year. The first person went into space in 1961 and since that time, 563 people have been to space. So how is it possible that it took 58 years for the first all-female spacewalk to occur??!!!??!!!

Well, of the 563 people who have been to space, only 65 women have been to space, a staggering low percentage of just 11.5% of all people in space. The first US woman to go to space was Sally Ride in 1983, a full 22 years AFTER the first man in space.

The two women who teamed to become the first all-female spacewalk are Christina Koch and Jessica Meir. A big congratulations to them for this accomplishment!!! Women are playing a greater role in many male dominated fields, but we must continue to do better! Fields dominated by men must take a closer look and why this is. Simply saying there are too few women candidates for available positions is the wrong attitude. Why are their fewer female candidates? Is it because the environment they'd work in discriminates? Most likely, meaning the fault is not the female candidates, but the male-dominated field for not recognizing steps must be taken to promote gender and sex equality.

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