Self-Assessment Matters
As described in yesterday's post, sociologist Shelley Correll found that boys assess their mathematical abilities higher than girls with similar past mathematical achievement. So what difference does this make?
Correll found that higher mathematical self-assessment among students of equal abilities increased students' odds of enrolling in high school calculus and choosing a quantitative college major. In her sample, she found that boys were 1.2 times more likely than their equally capable female counterparts to enroll in calculus. When girls and boys assessed themselves as equally mathematically competent, the gender difference disappeared, and girls and boys were equally likely to enroll in calculus.
Likewise, 4 percent of female students compared with 12 percent of male students in Correll's sample chose a college major in engineering, mathematics, or the physical sciences. Although controlling for mathematical self-assessment did not eliminate this gender difference in college major choice, it did reduce the difference.
These findings suggest that gender differences in self-assessment - separate from any differences in actual ability - can partially account for the disproportionately high numbers of men in the quantitative professions. It makes sense that if girls don't believe they have the ability to become a scientist or engineer, they will choose to be something else.
Hmcbride2000,
I agree with you completely that starting earlier is better. If you start mentoring programs for women in engineering in college, you're only capturing those women who successfully navigated all the obstacles to declaring an engineering major that most girls run into. If you focus on informing elementary and middle school girls about the world of engineering, you can help more girls understand engineering and think of it as a career option from an earlier age.
Best,
Christi
I completely agree that constraints become preferences.
Like Marian I was very good at math and science in high school and was encouraged to become a physician (I ended up a PhD scientist). But no one suggested engineering to me nor did I think about it.
It was only as a postdoctoral fellow that I really became exposed to the world of engineering with a grad student mentee who was studying for a PhD in bioengineering. What she did sounded so vibrant and relevant! There are some great mentoring programs for women in engineering in graduate school and at the undergrad level. But I wonder if they shouldn't start even earlier....
Hi Marian,
Thanks for sharing your story. I know you're not alone in being a woman with strong math and science abilities who did not consider engineering. Engineering is still the most male-dominated of the professions. I earned a BS in aerospace engineering and worked as an engineer in industry for 8 years, and I can say from my first-hand experience that engineering is still very much a man's world. I couldn't agree with you more that encouraging girls to pursue engineering is important. Understanding that girls assess themselves lower in male-typical fields like math and engineering, to me, is eye-opening because lots of people say "Well, girls and woman are just not choosing to go into engineering; they're just not interested". But the title of Shelley Correll's article on this, "Constraints into Preferences", says it all. People develop what become their "preferences" out of the options that they see available to them.
Best,
Christi
Laura,
Your last sentence above got me thinking. And, the following is a bit of a digression from the discussion...
I had two teachers who encouraged me in math (both male), one in jr. high, one in high school. My science teachers weren't discouraging, but I can't say they encouraged me. I was fortunate to have some outside influences that encouraged me in biology so that I considered science.
BUT, no one ever encouraged me to be an engineer. Had I told my teachers or peers that I wanted to be an engineer I'm sure they would have laughed at me; engineering was for boys! It was not until several years into graduate school, when I took some engineering classes as an application of mathematics, that I found that I was very competent (and compatible) with several engineering fields. Even though I had broken the barriers and studied math, physics, and chemistry, I hadn't considered engineering!
I know that we focus on girls getting into math and science, but we should also encourage girls to pursue engineering; women are great at practical problem solving, which engineering needs.
By the way, I firmly believe that self perception is a huge part of the problem and solution. Let's keep working on our student's perception!
Marian
Hi Laura,
That's an interesting question. Because Shelley Correll's research shows that it's the stereotype that boys are better at math in our culture that results in girls assessing their math skills lower than boys do, the recommendations she makes focus on changing the culture, not changing the girls. I really like a quote from her that we included in Why So Few. She said -
"Enhancing how girls feel about themselves is very, very important, but if we don't do the flip side, and change how other people feel about girls, we're setting girls up to feel good about themselves only to encounter structures that are really pretty negative for them."
So, one recommendation is for teachers to make performance standards and expectations crystal clear so that girls don't rely on stereotypes to evaluate themselves. Another is that institutions and individuals convey the message to girls that girls and boys are equally capable of achieving in math and science. Pointing out the lack of gender difference in achievement by nearly every measure in STEM fields can help reduce the power of the stereotype that boys are better in STEM fields.
There's a great video of Shelley Correll presenting her findings and recommendations on self-assessment and career aspirations here - http://www.youtube.com/user/ClaymanInstitute#p/a/f/2/jwviTwO8M8Q
Hi Christi,
I think this is an important issue because informally I've heard from many women in science that they went into the field because they were good at math. So if fewer perceive themselves this way, we get fewer who are motivated to persist in spite of problems. Are there strategies for increasing their self-assessment's accuracy?
cheers,
Laura
