We're Worse in Test Results Again
Dear friends of women in science,
Sonia Pressman Fuentes alerted me to the results of an international study of 15-year-old student performance across 65 countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The results showed the US has among the largest ratios of performance favoring boys over girls in all the countries included. You can view a graph of the data, indicating the US data point, here.
In discussing the reasons, the New York Times article said."Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the tests for the O.E.C.D., says different countries offer different incentives for learning science and math. In the United States, he said, boys are more likely than girls to "see science as something that affects their life." Then there is the "stereotype threat." We have discussed both visualizing futures and stereotype threat many times on this forum.
Christianne Corbett, who posted discussions of her data from the book on her study via the AAUW, Why So Few? here last year, was asked to comment on the findings. She said, "We see that very early in childhood - around age 4 - gender roles in occupations appear to be formed...." In Russia and parts of Asia, the roles of women can be less set in concrete at these early ages, and less reinforced by the societal norms. Interestingly, several Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan showed data where women did better than men, correlating with opportunities for them to pursue STEM.
What do you think? Do US citizens among the international mixture we encounter in science value men more than women and expect more of men, continuing the societal mis-conceptions? Or, as we sometimes hear, do international male graduate student TAs contribute to the pressure against women's success?
cheers,
Laura
Dear Laura,
I'm proud of the nations that have successfully encouraged their women in our fields, and find it discouraging but not surprising to see US so far to the left (men-emphasis) in that graph. We push the rock up the hill, and it rolls down. We catch it halfway, and it's time to push it up again. Boring, but very necessary.
Dana
Hi FBP,
I agree. Many times lately I've been told this whole topic is old hat, after the fair, no longer a problem, solved. Hah! Not at all. Still needs a lot of attention, per anyone who is on the receiving end of the not-so-benign neglect and discouragement of being a woman in science, young or old.
cheers,
Laura
Hi Laura,
Time for a rant, I think. Over and over, we're told "this is solved," but it's not. We're told, "that's old data, now this problem doesn't exist," and then a new study comes out, like Jo Handelsman's PNAS article or this international test. We still DO have a problem, but we can't solve it if we pretend it doesn't exist.
Thanx for the soapbox,
FBP
