Episode 124: That was awkward!

Panel 1.
Epo: Approaching planet. Information beacon in orbit identifies this planet as Rane… Preparing to land.

Panel 2.
[Alkina exits Epo. A dock worker comes up to her.]
Dock worker: Where is your captain?
Alkina: Uh, I am in charge of this spaceship.

Panel 3.
Dock worker: Oh, well… um… What do you want?
Alkina: I need some fusaline for my ship.

Panel 4.
Dock worker: OK. It will take a few hours.

Panel 5.
[Back inside Epo.]
Alkina: Wow! That was a strange experience.
Epo: I interfaced with their computer network. It appears that this civilization heavily restricts the activity of its female citizens, preventing them from pursuing positions in science, government or industry.

Panel 6.
Alkina: I’m sure glad we don’t have to spend too much time on this planet.

Is that all?

4000 Years of Women in Science – The history of women in science from antiquity to the nineteenth century.

Women at NASA – Videos and essays from women who contribute to NASA’s mission in many different ways, including as astronauts.

Hey, where’s my science?

Alkina encounters a civilization where women are not treated as equal to men. While women’s rights on Earth have advanced in the last century, this wasn’t always the case. Even though female scientists have existed as long as male scientists (see the first link in “Is that all?”), they were not always given the proper recognition they deserved. For this reason, for a long time, science was seen as a field exclusive to men.

Now, there are a large number of women role models in many fields that were once considered the domain of men.