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breaking biases brick by brick

Benevolent Sexism

[ buh-nev-uh-luhnt sek-siz-uhm ]

noun

1. attitudes about women that seem positive in tone but nonetheless connote inferiority to men based on fragility, lack of competence, or need of help/protection

"Despite Jessica's impeccable qualifications and proven track record, Michael exhibited benevolent sexism by denying her the promotion, arguing that it was with her best intentions in mind; she should be spared from the added responsibility at work as she is probably already busy at home."

"Ms. Smith's actions displayed benevolent sexism as she denied the girls the opportunity to carry the chairs and solely relied on the 'strong boys' in the class."

Why does it
matter?

Note from the Founder

Hey there! 👋 I'm Samaira 🤓, a 16-year-old junior at Archbishop Mitty in San Jose, California 🌉. When I turned five, my parents gifted me a science kit 🧪 because they knew I loved bringing unique ideas to life. But they also warned me that science could be a boys' club, and I would face discrimination just because I'm a girl. I didn't fully grasp what they meant until I attended a science camp where there weren't many girls like me. Despite that, I didn't let it discourage me. However, things took a sour turn when I noticed I was always asked to set up or clean up experiments while the guys did the "important" stuff. They said it was because I was organized, like it was a compliment. But deep down, it hurt. I also ended up being the one recording data ✏️ because they thought I was neat and delicate, and in their own words, they didn't want my "pretty little hands" ✋ to get dirty. It's strange how compliments can sting so much 😖. They were being nice and caring, but it made me feel alone. It felt like they took away the fire and excitement I had for science ❌🔥.

 

I was lucky to grow up in a household where my parents believed I could do anything I put my heart to 💗. When my dad introduced me to coding 💻 at age 6, I fell in love. But when I realized my friends weren't as passionate about it, I decided to change that. Little stubborn 6-year-old me wanted things her way. So I created a board game 🎲 to teach coding and show my friends how fun it could be. When I saw it changing their minds, I discovered my love for teaching and sharing what I created. I wanted to do it more and more, and my mom suggested I start holding workshops. At 7, I thought workshops were when you built things at Home Depot 🪵😬, but after getting my definition straight, I approached libraries. Unfortunately, the first four said "No.” 🙅 They were nice about it, though. They said I was just a young girl and should focus on dolls and princesses, and that I shouldn't stress myself out. But it hurt. My idea of a young girl was someone who tried new things and followed my heart, but that didn't match theirs 😔.

 

People were being nice to me, looking out for me, but it hurt so much. I started thinking something was wrong with me. And even though I felt alone at that moment, deep down I wasn’t. According to a study by Stockton University, around two-thirds of girls are interested in STEM until fourth grade. But things like benevolent sexism become roadblocks 🚧 as they grow.

 

While I was lucky to find libraries 📚 that trusted me to hold workshops and had the constant support of my biggest cheerleaders, my mom and dad 👨‍👩‍👦, many young girls may not have that. When compliments start hurting them, and they think something's wrong with themselves, it leads to scary statistics like only 24% of people in STEM being women 👩‍💻. When women aren't treated equally, we don't have the same opportunities. But in a world where technology is meant to accommodate society, shouldn't the people behind it reflect its users?

 

To make a change, we need to start conversations 💬 and educate 📖 ourselves on how we talk to young girls. That's where BenevoLENS 🔍 comes in: BenevoLENS is my Deep Learning powered web platform that helps us understand how benevolent sexism appears in our world 🌍. Just enter any sentence from any context, and in less than 7 seconds, with over 96% accuracy, you'll know whether there's benevolent sexism🕵️‍♀️. It's not just for individuals seeking to educate themselves; our application extends to education itself 👩‍🏫, legislation 👩🏻‍⚖️, workplace dynamics 🤝, media 🎥, and public discourse 🗣️. It's a collective effort to eliminate gender-based biases 💯.

 

Once we change how we approach conversations with young girls as a society, then we can truly see a brighter future 💡. Because we should never ever underestimate the power of the change that girls can bring 💥.

 

Because I continued my journey in STEM 👩‍🔬, I kept innovating and using science to create solutions. Recently, I developed OVision, a deep-learning platform to assist doctors in creating precision medicine plans for ovarian cancer patients 🧬. I won first in the state at the California State Science Fair 🥇 and ranked in the top 🔟 nationwide at the 3M Young Scientists Challenge. I'm currently working with the ovarian cancer department at UCLA (Go Bruins 🐻!!) to develop it further.

 

So let's support girls, educate ourselves, and speak up when necessary. 📣⚡

 

With lots of love and power 🌈,

Samaira 🦸🏽‍♀️💪🔋

Deep Learning based

< 10 seconds 

quick

web platform

accessible

> 96% accurate

accurate

detection of benevolent sexism in any sentence contexts

open for public use soon!

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