Girls Say They Stink at Math
Posted by anastasia on 04-15-2005
I found this new study reported by Reuters to be fascinating — maybe because it finally gets at the root of why women are underrepresented in the math/science fields. From the article:
“Boys believed they were better than their grades actually are, while girls believed they were worse than their grades actually are,” study author Dr. Pamela Davis-Kean of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor told Reuters Health.
Furthermore, despite girls’ report cards, parents tended to believe that girls have to work harder at math than do sons.”
Makes sense, no? To this day I tell people I stink at math and my parents did mak a very big deal about helping me with my math homework b/c I just wasn’t good at it. Whether I really wasn’t or whether it was some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, I’ll never know….But I have to confess I’m kinda glad I’m not working in a lab right now!
Categorized under: Education