In chapter four, “Sex, Math and Science”, Spelke and Grace brought up a few “assumptions” that we may have when it comes to the reasons behind the sex differences in the field of math and science. For example, males are more orientated to objects, which is a cognitive skill that the STEM field requires. Or males are better mathematicians- a statement that is later proven wrong; they come to the conclusion that women tend to rely on landmarks while men on geometry but “men and women have equal talent for mathematics” (Spelke, 61). Another assumption is that there are more male geniuses but that’s also been proven wrong and the authors conclude: “cognitive sex differences do not account for the preponderance of makes on mathematics and science faculties” (Spelke, 61). They then go on and talk about the role of gender bias and discrimination, which is mainly what I want to focus on in this blog.
Before I talk about gender bias, I want to talk about my own bias in specific. Being a female, I’m well aware of the fact that my opinions could be biased. I mean, why would I want to believe that I am not as talented as men and that the chance for me to succeed in the STEM field is much slimmer than it is for men? What I love most about this chapter is the fact that they consider many different possibilities and have evidence that supports their argument. However, I can’t help but question: how did they choose the studies in the first place when they first started writing this chapter? There must be studies that do not support their point of view. What did they do with them? Did they just disregard them and picked the ones that do support them? In chapter 2, Kimura did find some evidence that supports the claim that it is reasonable for men to be more successful in the STEM field. Is it the correct thing to do to disregard the studies that don’t exactly support the “hypothesis”? Personally, I believe that an effective argument consists of evidence that both support and contradict one’s opinion. It would be even more convincing if Spelke and Grace had different kinds of evidence and still managed to prove whatever that they were trying to prove correct. In my senior year, I wrote a research paper on “How effective is vitamin C when it comes to the prevention and treatment of gastric cancer due to its pro-oxidant and anti-oxidant properties?” by analyzing around 15 studies, which includes looking at the protocol, the sample population, the statistical analysis, the strengths and the weaknesses of each study. There were studies that had the results that I did not want but I still included them just so I could make sure I wasn’t being biased. Despite all that, this chapter is written very effectively. Everything is organized and is back up by other studies, which makes the argument strong and persuasive. How would the chapter be like if the author was a male though? How would they formulate or structure their essay? I would love to know because I am almost certain that men have their own bias when it comes to this issue. It would be interesting to see how they word their ideas.
Similarly to Valian’s idea, Spelke and Grace also think that gender stereotypes also play a role, including the idea that we exhibit gender bias unconsciously. We associate “female” with “afraid”, “little” and “soft” and “male” with “angry”, “strong” and “active”. (Spelke, 63). What is different is the idea that “people are more apt to consider professions that are populated by others who are like themselves” (Spelke, 64). This can be linked back to chapter one, when Valian said: “Over time, those advantages mount up, so that men reach the top faster and in greater numbers than women do” (Valian, 34). Bias perceptions lead to discrimination and discrimination reduces the attractiveness of STEM careers for women, which leads to the unbalanced distribution of genders in the field. What that does to women is that they might not even want to try and pursue a STEM career anymore simply because there aren’t as many women in the field and they would not see these fields as possible or desirable. I’ve talked about the lack of role models before and I think that’s what Spelke and Grace are trying to convey here. Being the minority in STEM, we need successful female role models- it can really help overcome the discrimination. Fortunately, there’s still hope according to Spelke and Grace. “Boys and girls now show equal capacities and achievements in science and mathematics from elementary school to college, despite the biased ways in which they are perceived and judged” (Spelke, 64) In my opinion, biases are extremely hard to get rid of but it is not impossible. We need to remind the girls that they have to start somewhere and that they are more than capable of succeeding at what they love doing. By taking this course, I now understand that how badly the girls that are debating whether to be a secretary or a scientist need role models to show them that it’s okay to go into STEM if they want to and that we should all strive to be that for them if we can. Nothing should stop them from pursuing what they love- not their gender.
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