Smart Girls -- Breaking Down Barriers

Reported July 2009

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Girls like reading and writing. Boys like math and science. It's a stereotype that's persisted for generations, but times are changing. Experts are targeting our youth to break down those barriers.

Tea parties, dress-up, dancing, dolls … this is what little girls do, right? A recent survey shows girls in elementary school actually like math and science better than language arts. Girls in the U.S. are now taking high school calculus at the same rate as boys. The percentage of doctorates awarded in mathematical sciences to women jumped from 5 percent in the 1950s to 30 percent today. But there are still hurdles. h

"We start losing the kids -- particularly the girls -- around middle school." Susan Carol Losh, Ph.D., a social psychologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee, told Ivanhoe.

Dr. Losh says to keep girls interested, math and science need to be presented differently.

"The girls are very idealistic," Dr. Losh said. "They want to make a difference. We're not saying, 'If you go into physics, look at the contributions you can make to medicine.'"

Showing them how one subject can affect another and a little encouragement can go a long way. Confidence from parents and teachers is crucial.

"I think it's very important for them to learn about the world they live in -- why things work the way they do," mother Heidi Garrett said.

"For her to grow and become and to go to college and do more things, I think it's really important," mother Sandy Trowel expressed.

Barriers are breaking down one girl at a time. The encouragement of women has already paid off. In 2003, for the first time, more women than men applied for admission to U.S. medical schools.

The American Sociological Association contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Dr. Susan Carol Losh
Florida State University
Tallahassee FL 32306-4453
(850) 644-8778
slosh@garnet.acns.fsu.edu

Jackie Cooper
Media Relations Officer
American Sociological Association
(202) 383-9005, x332
http://www.asanet.org/
JCooper@asanet.org

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