FEMINISM
Are Gender Biases Affecting Women’s Education in STEM CAITLIN MILLHOUSE
Women possess the equal ability to learn mathematics and science that men do, however, what they lack is the equal opportunity to acquire these key skills. It is a common misconception that in the UK sexism and the consequent advantages for men in these fields are problems of the past, yet this is not the case. STEM is an area affected significantly by these gender injustices. According to a recent study by UNICEF, girls worldwide are struggling behind boys in mathematics, and sexism and gender stereotypes were said to be among the root causes. The report found that boys have up to 1.3 times the odds of obtaining mathematic skills than girls. Even when sitting in the same classroom, reading the same books, and listening to the same teacher, boys and girls receive vastly different educations. Whilst young girls tend to come out on top in standardized tests, the socialisation of gender within schools
assures that girls are made to believe that they are unequal to boys. The socialisation of gender is the process through which children, from an alarmingly early age, learn about the social expectations, attitudes and behaviours associated with men and women. Whilst girls are praised by teachers for being neat, quiet and calm, boys are encouraged to be active and speak their minds. Negative gender stereotypes are often held by teachers, parents and peers regarding an innately female inability to understand mathematics and these stereotypes are projected onto young girls. This undermines their self-confidence and sets them up for failure. Sometimes just these beliefs can be enough to dissuade women from pursuing further studies in STEM fields. Furthermore, it does not help that so many classes in STEM-related subjects have incredibly uneven ratios of boys to girls. Some would argue that it
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