Why we need more brilliant female role models

Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012 to stop her campaigning for girls' education and co-winner of the 2014 Nobel peace prize. Picture: AP

Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012 to stop her campaigning for girls' education and co-winner of the 2014 Nobel peace prize. Picture: AP

Published Feb 2, 2017

Share

London - Girls as young as six already believe they cannot be as ‘brilliant’ as boys, a study has found.

By only their second year of school, girls are more likely than boys to shy away from activities for ‘really, really clever’ children.

But just a year earlier, at the age of five, there is no difference between the sexes.

The research, published in the journal Science, may cast new light on the lack of women working in ‘Stem’ careers – science, technology, engineering and maths.

Illinois University found that by the age of six girls were less likely to believe other girls were very intelligent or could be brilliant.

In experiments with 96 children of both sexes, aged five, six and seven, the pupils were introduced to two games – one said to be for "children who are really, really smart’ and the other for ‘children who try really, really hard".

At the age of five, there was no difference in the games chosen by boys and girls, but by ages six and seven, girls were less likely to choose the game for the most intelligent, instead choosing the option for hard-working pupils.

The children were also told a brief story about a person who was "really, really smart" with no hints given as to their gender.

At the age of five, boys and girls were equally likely to choose their own gender as "really, really smart". However, by six and seven, girls were significantly less likely than boys to associate brilliance with their own gender.

The researchers found the children’s assumption was not about academic success – as the findings did not stand when pupils were asked to guess whether boys or girls did best at school. The study said: "The stereotypes associating men but not women with brilliance and genius may take a toll on women’s careers.

"Fields whose members place a great deal of value on sheer brilliance, e.g. mathematics, physics and philosophy have lower proportions of women earning bachelor’s and doctoral degrees."

Lead author Lin Bian said: "Because of the stereotype associating brilliance with males, women may perceive themselves as less likely to be brilliant, and as a result they may also doubt if they are going to be successful in any career or job that involves brilliance."

Last year British universities accepted six times the number of young men on to computer science courses as women. For engineering degrees, there were almost five times the number of men.

The figures from admissions body Ucas also show far fewer young women chose mathematical sciences, with almost 3 300 signing up compared with 23 070 men.

Charlotte Avery, of the Girls’ Schools Association, said: "We still live in a male-dominated world and girls also see and hear outdated ideas about women on the television, in stories and sometimes even, albeit unwittingly, from their parents and other relatives."

She added: "Parents and schools together need to continue to raise the younger generation’s aspirations of what they can do and who they can be, with the help of strong and brilliant female role models."

A report by the Institution of Engineering and Technology last month found just 11 percent of popular toys linked to Stem subjects are listed as being suitable for girls, against a third for boys.

Daily Mail

Related Topics: