The field of science has always been a theft of genius.
In the 1930s, NASA began hiring women who were skilled at calculations and mathematics to work as ‘computers’ for the rest of the scientists.1 These women were classified as ‘subprofessionals’ while men who held similar qualifications were known as professionals. To add insult to injury, there existed segregation between black and white women. Black women had a separate area to work in, a different dining hall, and different washroom facilities.1 Despite being subjected to blatant sexism and racism, these women persisted. They would work relentlessly behind the scenes without any credit.
Imagine a NASA office in the 1960s. It's a dimly lit room with a woman scribbling furiously on a piece of paper. She is working on calculations that will eventually send a man to outer space. All this effort, only for a white male scientist to ultimately take credit for the entire project. In 1953, Katherine Johnson, a Black woman mathematician at NASA, began working at the agency. For years, she worked tirelessly and contributed behind the scenes to important projects. Although she did eventually become the first woman to have her name included in a NASA report, for years, her work went unrecognized and was kept out of history books.
There is a term that shows how women’s scientific contributions are consistently erased and credited to men. Coined by Margaret Rossiter, the Matilda Effect shows how the work done by women through time has never reached future generations. Although their contributions have been noted, their names have gone unnoticed.
It’s unfair, it’s frustrating, and unfortunately, it’s not just history.
Women in STEM have had their work discredited, and even outright stolen for decades. In 1915 for example, a Black American chemist, Alice Augusta Ball, came up with the first effective treatment for Hansen’s disease, also known as Leprosy. Until antibiotics were brought into existence, the injectable oil extract she developed had been the only treatment that worked. Shortly after her discovery, she passed away. Her breakthrough was claimed by Arthur Dean, who went on to publish her findings in two journals after her death, without any credit to the rightful researcher. It took over 50 years for her to finally be recognized as the true developer.
It is easily discernible that the tech industry today has the same problem as NASA and the medicine industry had.
Everyone knows Silicon Valley loves to celebrate its white men. Take Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, or Bill Gates. If you ask children in school about these people, they would at least have a vague idea of who they are. These men are often treated like modern-day wizards, as if they conjured up ideas out of thin air, taking the world by storm. Yet, some of the many advancements in technology, some that we use every single day, are created by women. Small developments that are pioneered by these women are parts of our daily usage. The same problem persists, hardly anyone knows about them.
Take Lisa Gelobter, for instance. It is fair to assume that almost everybody has used, or at least heard, of what a GIF is. The technology behind these animations was made possible by Gelobter, a Black woman computer scientist who helped make the Shockwave technology that makes web animations attainable today. If you have ever streamed a video on the Internet, you can now credit her for it. Despite this impressive research, we don’t see her name in any articles about the evolution of the Internet.
When you DoorDash food and it arrives at the correct address in a timely manner, or when you Uber and don’t have to tell your driver the correct way to get to your place, everything requires the use of a GPS. Dr. Gladys West was the mathematician whose calculations made it possible to develop this technology in the first place. When people mention GPS however, her name is rarely mentioned. All that is talked about are the men in the Magellan Corporation who commercialised this concept.
This is a system where mediocrity is a privilege some don’t get. According to data provided by the United Nations, it may take up to 300 years to achieve equality and fully close the gender gap. At this rate, it will take even longer for women of colour to reach the same standards.
It’s not that diversity initiatives aren’t taking place, they are. Companies love putting out statements and programs for optics all the time. But without real, tangible change, it can all feel like performative and meaningless nonsense. Institutions might hire people of colour for the purpose of increasing diversity in their workforce, but when it comes to promotions and other meaningful opportunities, they are overlooked. They are constantly pushed out of leadership positions and paid significantly less than their coworkers with similar qualifications. According to the OECD (2024), there is a 17.1% difference between the annual median earnings of men and women in Canada. This gender wage gap is even higher for self-employed individuals.
What we need is more women in leadership positions. We need women who can uplift each other and inspire a new generation of leaders. Even today, Black women constitute less than 1% of the tech workforce at big tech companies like Google and Apple. Shifts have occurred, especially with social media in the picture. Hidden figures are now more visible with the fast-checking of academia. Women have now learned to take it upon themselves. Student organisations such as Girls In Tech on-campus work towards fostering inclusivity and a sense of belonging. If we won’t get a seat at the table filled with white men, we are able to build our own tables, our own labs.
Dr. Jessica Wade is a physicist at Imperial College London who actively advocates for the representation of women in STEM. Wade was so passionate about her mission, in fact, that she created over 2000 Wikipedia articles to celebrate the achievements and success of those women who have already shattered the glass ceiling. This is what matters. Advocacy. Awareness. Action.
Science is a fan of romanticising isolated intellect, but that overlooks the idea of collaboration. The truth remains that discoveries happen only in collectives. And women continue to be a part of that collective – whether they get credit for it or not. The field of science cannot exist without constant discovery. Forgetting the real brains behind it is not just erasure, it’s theft. It is high time the world discovers the minds who built it and gives credit where it's due.
We are living in 2025. If it's possible to send people to Mars, it’s definitely possible to uplift women in male-dominated fields, as they deserve. The dimly lit room from the 1960s does not exist anymore. Women have long since stepped out of those vicinities and created bigger, better spaces for themselves. History does not have to stay broken. No more footnotes. No more theft.
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