Male privilege isn't just a problem on Earth
A recent study suggests women make better astronauts, despite men largely outnumbering them
When you hear or see the word “astronaut,” what is the first picture that comes to mind? Probably a guy in a space suit.
To be fair, the large majority of astronauts have been men. Assumptions like this are still a problem though that can affect how we, and children, view gender roles.
And what if I told you that women overall are probably *better* astronauts than men are? That’s what a recent study concluded, suggesting that it’s old-school stereotypes about gender roles that are to blame for there being so many more male astronauts than female ones.
Female astronauts are better suited to lead long-term space missions […] They showed more mutual support, motivation and engendering a positive environment
At first glance, a reader might think, “so they’re nicer than men, but can they get the job done?”
The study suggest that women do just as well as men on attention to task completion, according to Inga Popovaitė, the study’s author.
“While it is traditionally considered that male leaders are task-oriented and women are more sociable leaders, my research has shown that both male and female commanders were equally focused on task completion. The only difference between them was that women more frequently encouraged their team with positive supportive messages.”
The article further states
Although both female and male commanders demonstrated task-oriented leadership behavior, women commanders discussed with their crew members more frequently.
That suggests that the women were more inclusive and supportive of their teams while still making sure to get the job done. The emotional factor is especially important the longer the mission in space is, Popovaitė says.
It should be pointed out that there were fewer women in the study than men, which makes it harder to compare the results of the study between the groups. But this is partly because there are fewer women astronauts overall, and in leadership roles. For example, according to Wikipedia, there have been 69 expeditions (insert joke about 69 here) on the International Space Station, and only three of those had women commanders.
Do the findings of this study mean that going forward, there should only be women astronauts? No, of course not. Despite the importance of equity in opportunity among all sexes, first of all it doesn’t mean that every single woman is better in these things than every single man. The men in the study also did have some areas they were generally better at, such as using specific language to communicate (which can be important in a critical situation, for example).
The question is, now that we have a good indication that women might not just be as good, but even better at commanding space missions, will there be a push to include them more? Will there be an effort to make sure gender is not used as a criteria for advancement? What would that look like in practice?
Or will the status quo be perpetuated where people assume astronauts are men, and if a woman sometimes gets through and moves up in rank or makes it into the public eye, it’s just a soundbite or fun article and then the male-dominated system goes on?
We should be getting rid of gender bias and inequality on Earth, not spreading it to space as well.