Moment of Lift

[Olioxenfree]

How to make your own makeup? Ugh.

My husband took the kids to a science museum recently and he said in the gift shop every single science kit that had a girl on the package was build a fairy garden, make bath bombs, bracelet making, make a mood ring, etc. Every single kit with a boy on it was excavate a dinosaur fossil, build a solar car, etc. Yes, he could buy the kit with the boy on it for our daughter and the kit with the girl on it for our boys, but kids look at packaging, they see that kind of thing, and it changes how they think society views them.

I think there is something to what you are saying. How sad!

When I used to teach, I didn't see a difference in aptitude for math based on gender. This stuff is coming from something else like you are saying.

Studies show that up until a certain age, boys and girls have the same aptitude for math and science and have the same interest in it and then at a certain age, I think it's in the early teens, girls interest in those subjects drop off and they do not see themselves in those careers. This is something that is taught, not something that develops naturally.

There are some really interesting studies out that about how even just the toys that are marketed toward boys or girls foster brain development that assist in the math and science fields, so as girls get older and they see that they are having a harder time in a subject than their boy classmates, they come to believe that it is because boys are just better at those things, when really it's because of a toy that was handed to them when they were four. For example, because toys like legos are such a popular gift for young boys, they become much more proficient at an early age in fine motor skills and spacial recognition. They tested classrooms of boys and girls and the boys outperformed the girls in certain stem related tasks like engineering and coding, then they had all of the children play with tangram toys for a couple weeks and retested them and found that both genders now performed on the same level.

[LiveWhatULove]

I have not read her book. As far as number of females in STEM fields, I think there are many reasons it is outweighed by men.

I personally believe the theory that no one is born all that gifted or talented in certain fields or in other words, girls or boys can achieve and be talented in any field they choose. I believe books such as Grit, Peak, Evolve your brain, and other neuroscience summary type books, which theorize what really determines our success or aptitude is the drive to practice and devote our attention to that cognitive ability, be it a STEM skill or other skill set. I personally think that many females do not wish to focus their practice and attention on the STE fields due to both societal as well as evolutionary reasons, Reasons that are rather complex to explain in a DB post. But it is hard to “rewire” our neural programming and shift social norms as fast as STEM is growing...

As far as diversifying any workplace, be it the STEM fields, research world, academia, It remains a huge challenge. Challenges include implicit racism, sexism, but also challenges with lack of qualified candidates. I think developing pipelines into diverse community schools helps some, but it does help fast enough.