Children and Understanding Science, Stereotypes Linger

When many think about the differences between boys and girls, many will automatically refer to the differences in sexual organs; girls have breast and boys do not. Boys have a penis and girls do not. I remember we had a similar discussion in one of our previous classes. We also went on from there as to what other aspects separate the boys from the girls. I stumbled across a very particular article that reminded me of said discussion. This article talks about how to get more girls interested in learning concepts in Science and Mathematics better.

This article’s headline is “Girls and science: why the gender gap exists and what to do about it” and is published through “The Guardian”. The author, Emma Keller, argues that boys do better in Science and Math than girls.  To help close this gap between boys and girls, Keller suggests that girls should be encouraged to feel better about their own capabilities to do well in Science and Math from when they are young.

Keller makes several suggestions as to how to go about helping girls become more confident in understanding science and the concepts. Some of the ideas that stood out to me included continuously applying science concepts to “domestic scenarios” such as shopping and cooking. Another suggestion is to have a female role model that is in the scientific field. Another suggestion runs on the idea that girls are more responsive to color than boys, therefore anything they use or play with should be color coded. Finally, another suggestion made is that to never give the answer to a problem and to just let the girl figure out the answers on their own. If given the answer, it would “short-circuit her self-esteem.

While on the surface these suggestions seem like pleasant ideas, if taken a closer look it can be seen that these ideas are also passively enforcing a gendered stereotype for girls to follow. Finding a role model that is a female in Science and Math is great, but that does not mean it should limit a child’s view to those positions that are majority female positioned. The reality is that anyone can serve as a positive role-model, male or female. Also the idea that all girls are highly emotionally frail beings is just ridiculous.

The idea of even limiting Science and Math to the scope of simple chores and entertainment activities also gives the impression that these two fields have no further significance beyond such, when the reality is that that could not be further from the truth.

After finding this article by Keller, I did find another article that was written in satirical contrast as a response. This article, also published by The Guardian, is titled "Boys and Science: The Gender Gap and How to Maintain it". In this article, author Dean Burnett suggests that since boys are much more violent than girls, violence should be used in understanding how science works by attacking a person. Burnett also suggests that comic books are educational and can be role models too, like Batman. 

At the heart of it all though, Burnett urges the reader to understand one fundamental idea with boys, though his statement is highly applicable to girls as well...

"It's probably wise to keep in mind that, despite their age, your son is still an individual, with thoughts, interests and a personality all his own. He is not a passive collection of stereotypes that you need to cajole into a science career by any means necessary, especially not if you're using approaches that are embarrassingly unscientific and based on ridiculous clichés or views."

I believe that perhaps the best way of going about closing the gender-gap between boys and girls in achieving in the Sciences is to start taking measures of treating both genders equally. Such equality needs to begin at the home. One scientific study I found suggests that parents help gain a child’s interest in science through discussions. Parents however have a tendency to explain scientific ideas more thoroughly to boys than to girls, and this could supposedly be creating a gap before the children enter elementary school (Crowley, 2001).

If we can actually start treating both genders equally right from the very beginning, it will be easier having both girls and boys excel in these growing fields.

Sources: 

Burnett, Dean. "Boys and Science: The Gender Gap and How to Maintain It." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 04 July 0042. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/brain-flapping/2013/feb/06/boys-and-science-maintaining-gender-divide>.

Crowley, Kevin, et al. "Parents explain more often to boys than to girls during shared scientific thinking." Psychological Science 12.3 (2001): 258-261. <http://ww.museumlearning.org/crowley1.pdf>

Keller, Emma G. "Girls and Science: Why the Gender Gap Exists and What to Do about It." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 03 Dec. 0035. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2013/feb/05/girls-science-gender-gap-fix>.