“The stereotype is terrible,” says Siliņa, who also hosts the program “Mind will save the world” on “Radio SWH” to host Jānis Šipkēvicas. She points out that since children’s days in cartoons and also in adult films, scientists have been portrayed as “crazy” or sloppy, often gray gentlemen with glasses, who have something going wrong. “Showing such an image of a scientist actually gives a very wrong impression to children and young people,” says Siliņa.
“The truth is that if you are a child or a young person, you have not yet grown up, and you want to have a well-paid profession in the future, to have something to do, you have to study STEM sciences, you have to study engineering sciences, you have to study natural sciences . It’s just a fact of life,” she says. Digital and other skills are also needed. “If you are told that you are a scientist, it is something that appears only with age, and there are those who are not very smart and crazy – no, it is not so.” Silina adds.
Thinking about the stereotype that scientists are older people, Siliņa says that some female scientists look more like they stepped off the cover of “Playboy”, while scientists are young and attractive. “These are the people who create all the technology around us,” she continues, “Doing this mission work of how to improve this society, this country, this world, how to solve the big problems. Really fantastic, fantastic work.”
Listen to the interview here: