Battle of the Schemas

by: Nicole Murgia

taken from: storify.com

In her essay  “’Underrepresentation’ or Misrepresentation?” Doreen Kimura stated that “the evidence is strong that women’s lower representation in some fields of science is due to innate talent and interest differences between the sexes” (Kimura 44); highlighting facts that potentially support the hypothesis that males are more successful in math related fields than females. Kimura presented multiple pieces of evidence supporting the hypothesis including hormone level effects, cognitive differences, and childhood experiences that could create differences between men and women.

Although it was shocking to hear that there is evidence that could be linked to the male and female mathematical successfulness debate, Kimura included information that inferred that there are definitely exceptions to the average and women are extremely capable of succeeding in the mathematical field as well.

It is a known fact that men and women have different hormone levels and according to Kimura’s essay these different levels “are associated with variations in specific cognitive abilities… (Kimura 40)”. The different prenatal androgen levels affect spatial abilities in adults while hormone levels, like menstrual cycles in women, affect cognitive abilities (Kimura 40). Although the different hormonal balances of men and women can make one or the other’s abilities greater in a certain field, both sexes have the ability to practice and become proficient in the opposite sex’s “strong field”. As Doreen Kimura said, although men have an innate ability for tasks involving engineering careers while women are superior when it comes the the secretarial field, “there will be women who make outstanding engineers, as there are men who will make outstanding securities” (Kimura 44).

In the essay, there was an influx of information supported by data from testing that supported that men have natural talents in fields such as mental rotation tasks, mechanical reasoning, and throwing accuracy while women have the upper-hand in tasks such as verbal memory and object location memory (Kimura 40). Although this may be true, it does not prove that men are more suitable for the mathematical field, it simply means that males and females approach tasks and solve problems differently. However, society tries us to make us believe that the talents we are innately born with should be what we pursue as careers. This is yet another example of gender schemas. Society wants us to conform and focus on gender specific careers; for example, men in engineering and women in secretarial positions. However, I see the different talents that men and women possess as an opportunity to enhance creativity and broaden the spectrum of every career field.

Another difference in males and females that Kimura connected with the different cognitive abilities each possess had to do with childhood experiences. How you learn and grow affects what you will be more successful in as you mature. I saw this fact as another case of gender schemas in play. Males grow up to be more skilled in mental rotations while women are better with object location memory. This may be a stretch, but I believe that the types of toys children play with at a young age, which usually are included in their specific gender schema, affect their cognitive abilities. So when young boys are playing with building blocks and young girls are playing with their play houses and the numerous items that are included with it, they are being trained for gender specific roles in the future.

So, once again, I believe it is gender schemas that are the main factor in the different talents of men and women and where they will lead them in their careers, not inherent abilities.