Race and Gender

From a sociological perspective, race and gender are socially-constructed yet very powerful categories that function in our everyday lives to identify and classify people. The categories of race and gender simultaneously permit and constrain inductive inferences. For example, because there are many successful African Americans in professional sports, a common assumption is that African Americans are naturally good at sports. Yet, this overlooks the social, cultural, and even structural reasons that contribute to the prevalence of African Americans in sports (and not other fields).
Working from this basic understanding of race and gender as social categories:
1) Based on your own experiences or observations, consider how the social categories of race and gender impact you in your academic career. You could, for example, discuss the challenges of being a woman in a STEM field, or, on the other hand, the privileges you may have experienced in STEM.
2) How might the social categories of race and gender direct or even limit scientific research and technological innovation? What would it take to eliminate race and gender from the equation? Should that be the ultimate goal?

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