It seems like no matter what approach is used to try and get young women interested in math and science, men still outnumber women in those career fields. Some people may argue that young women simply do not have any sort of interest in things related to math and science and that this is the reason for the gender gap, but this is purely untrue. Researchers have found that when girls perform poorly in math and science, the cause is environmental. Due to society’s expectations and stereotypes, young women do not get the same amount of encouragement as their male counterparts to excel in the areas of math and science, and too many consequently believe that they cannot. Stereotypes can come from anywhere and they can be explicit and unavoidable
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Teachers play an important role in shaping the lives of young students, they are influential role models during a critical developmental period in their students’ lives. So, when a student encounters a teacher who carries the belief that one gender is just naturally better at math or science than the other, students can pick up on this attitude and begin to change their behavior to match with this harmful stereotype. This situation is commonly referred to as stereotype threat. Writing in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Benedict explains that “Stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon in which a stereotyped group (in this case, girls) actually begins to transform its behavior to conform to negative stereotypes.” (Benedict Para. 8). Stereotype threat can affect young women in many negative ways, the most powerful being the way it affects their way of thinking. When young women discover that teachers, parents, friends and society seem to believe that young women are not good at math or that math is “for boys” then young women meet this expectation be unconsciously lowering their performance (Benedict, 2012). Students have also been shown to relate much more strongly to teachers who are the same gender as them, so when a female student meets a female teacher who is not a strong role model for them in math and science it can affect the negatively. Having a female …show more content…
In the classroom teachers should focus on positive female role models, such as Emmy Noether (best known for her contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics) and Lise Meitner (an Austrian-Swedish physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics), to inspire girls to pursue careers down the paths of math and science. Doing things like creating more math and science related clubs, after school programs, and summer programs would also help in that it would provide an environment where girls would be able to safely explore their interests without feeling judged or being criticized. Parents should encourage their daughters to explore and embrace the world of math and science, though they should not force it. No matter what a child’s preference is, it should be about balancing and not overcompensating (Tubby, 2014). Hopefully by creating environments safe from stereotypes for young women to explore their interests in and changing the ways parents turn their daughters away from the subjects, more young women will take an interest in math and science and hopefully follow careers down those
Teachers play an important role in shaping the lives of young students, they are influential role models during a critical developmental period in their students’ lives. So, when a student encounters a teacher who carries the belief that one gender is just naturally better at math or science than the other, students can pick up on this attitude and begin to change their behavior to match with this harmful stereotype. This situation is commonly referred to as stereotype threat. Writing in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Benedict explains that “Stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon in which a stereotyped group (in this case, girls) actually begins to transform its behavior to conform to negative stereotypes.” (Benedict Para. 8). Stereotype threat can affect young women in many negative ways, the most powerful being the way it affects their way of thinking. When young women discover that teachers, parents, friends and society seem to believe that young women are not good at math or that math is “for boys” then young women meet this expectation be unconsciously lowering their performance (Benedict, 2012). Students have also been shown to relate much more strongly to teachers who are the same gender as them, so when a female student meets a female teacher who is not a strong role model for them in math and science it can affect the negatively. Having a female …show more content…
In the classroom teachers should focus on positive female role models, such as Emmy Noether (best known for her contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics) and Lise Meitner (an Austrian-Swedish physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics), to inspire girls to pursue careers down the paths of math and science. Doing things like creating more math and science related clubs, after school programs, and summer programs would also help in that it would provide an environment where girls would be able to safely explore their interests without feeling judged or being criticized. Parents should encourage their daughters to explore and embrace the world of math and science, though they should not force it. No matter what a child’s preference is, it should be about balancing and not overcompensating (Tubby, 2014). Hopefully by creating environments safe from stereotypes for young women to explore their interests in and changing the ways parents turn their daughters away from the subjects, more young women will take an interest in math and science and hopefully follow careers down those