March is National Women’s History Month. I meant to comment earlier on this event, but better late than never, especially since this is the 30th anniversary of the National Women’s History Project.
From the NWHP website:
History helps us learn who we are, but when we don’t know our own history, our power and dreams are immediately diminished.
My website and blogs are filled with my fondness for having dreams and my belief in the necessity of pursuing one’s dreams. I live by the Thoreau Rule: Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. I expect my dream of being a successful writer to happen. Not because I have a BIG imagination (which I do), but because I write. I’m a DREAMER and a DOER, which makes me enthusiastically expect to be a DREAM COME TRUER. (One more Thoreau quote: None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.)
Back to the NWHP. The theme this year is Writing Women Back into History. Recently there have been two stories about women’s issues in the news that I would like to see become history—that is, put those issues in the past. Today’s blog is Issue #1. (Tomorrow’s blog will address Issue #2.)
The first topic that needs to go away for good is the notion that women are not as naturally adept at math and science as men. Oh baloney. This is antiquated thinking. Just ask Larry Summers, formerly the President of Harvard University, who said that the under-representation of women in the top levels of academia could be due to a “different availability of aptitude at the high end.” He was referring to math and science skills. Soon after, he was referred right out the crimson door of Harvard. (And later waltzed in through the White House door. Somehow I don’t think this attitude will fly with Michelle.)
From the Science Daily (Jan. 6, 2010) – Based on international research:
Girls around the world are not worse at math than boys, even though boys are more confident in their math abilities, and girls from countries where gender equity is more prevalent are more likely to perform better on mathematics assessment tests.
Earlier this month the winners for the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS)—America’s most prestigious science research competition for high school seniors—were announced. Second and fourth place winners were girls. So there!
That’s why an article in the NY Times on 3/21/10 was disturbing: Bias Called Persistent Hurdle for Women in Sciences. The article states that “although women have made gains, stereotypes and cultural biases still impede their success.” (from a report by the American Association of University Women)
The report also said that one of the reasons why there are more men than women in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) was because girls lacked confidence in their math abilities as compared to boys. Gee, I wonder how they got that way?
Girls need to be encouraged in STEM fields if that is their academic interest (or DREAM to pursue). This starts with parents, then teachers and professors, and especially with society in general. Boys are not smarter than girls in math and science. And the converse is also true.
Let’s set the record straight on this issue so it becomes a non-issue.
And since I think you get what you expect, let’s treat boys and girls equally in the classroom by expecting the same achievement abilities in both genders.
Here’s the text of the NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/science/22women.html
