Goldfeiz Sheindel Ifrah, Knoll Miriam, Jagsi Reshma, Weinstock Chana, Pennebaker James W, Samuels Linda, Edelman Daniel C
Jewish Orthodox Women's Medical Association, Passaic, New Jersey, USA.
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
Womens Health Rep (New Rochelle). 2020 Sep 28;1(1):413-423. doi: 10.1089/whr.2020.0033. eCollection 2020.
The barriers generally facing women wishing to pursue careers in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) in the United States have been well described. However, additional layers of cultural beliefs and needs may pose further obstructions to women in certain cultural subgroups who wish to enter STEMM. Recognition of the challenges faced by such subgroups is important and culturally sensitive educational and training approaches may be necessary. We therefore created a science mentoring and education program incorporating the specific requirements of our test group, young Orthodox Jewish women. Our goals were to facilitate their knowledge, skills, and attitudes to embark on a scientific career in biomedicine. Interventions were designed to target physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual areas of growth with each intervention crafted to the sensitivity of the women's cultural and religious backgrounds. Over the course of 6 years, we enrolled 59 Orthodox Jewish women, ages 16-20 years. These women spent their summers as part of the larger Summer Internship Program (SIP) at the National Institutes of Health. They participated in cohort sizes ranging from 6 to 26 in dozens of multilevel experiences in the SIP over 6-10 weeks. Participants reported strengthening interest to pursue careers in health care-related fields. Other graduates committed to pursue careers in the general sciences, and other graduate studies. This unique educational platform shows promise for other intersectional groups approaching educational barriers to careers in STEMM.
美国女性在科学、技术、工程、数学和医学（STEMM）领域追求职业发展时普遍面临的障碍已得到充分描述。然而，在某些文化亚群体中，额外的文化信仰和需求层面可能会给希望进入STEMM领域的女性带来更多阻碍。认识到这些亚群体所面临的挑战很重要，可能需要采用具有文化敏感性的教育和培训方法。因此，我们创建了一个科学指导和教育项目，纳入了我们测试群体——年轻的东正教犹太女性的特定需求。我们的目标是促进她们在生物医学领域从事科学职业所需的知识、技能和态度。干预措施旨在针对身体、智力、情感和精神成长领域，每项干预措施都根据这些女性的文化和宗教背景的敏感性进行精心设计。在6年的时间里，我们招募了59名年龄在16至20岁之间的东正教犹太女性。这些女性作为美国国立卫生研究院更大规模暑期实习项目（SIP）的一部分度过她们的夏天。她们在6至10周的时间里，以6至26人的小组规模参与了SIP中的数十项多层次体验。参与者报告称，她们对从事医疗保健相关领域职业增强了兴趣。其他毕业生致力于在普通科学领域或其他研究生学习领域追求职业发展。这个独特的教育平台为其他面临STEMM领域职业教育障碍的交叉群体带来了希望。
