Why girls stop being brilliant after the age of 6?
How to encourage girls' interest in tech — Newsletter No.16
Tech has always been portrayed as something only smart people can do.
Today, we’ll see how unconscious biases about who has “innate” talent have a profound effect.
Brilliance is not for girls?
Common stereotypes associate high-level intellectual ability (brilliance, genius, etc.) with men more than women.
It is often assumed that high-level cognitive ability (brilliance, genius, giftedness, etc.) is present more often in men than in women. For example, there are studies done in UK and Germany that showed that parents think their sons are smarter than their daughters (interestingly, fathers’ intelligence self-assessment was higher than mothers’).
The four different studies on more than 400 children show that, by the age of 6, girls are less likely than boys to believe that members of their gender are “really, really smart”—a child-friendly way of referring to brilliance.
Also at age 6, the girls in these studies begin to shy away from novel activities said to be for children who are “really, really smart.”
These findings suggest that gendered notions of brilliance are acquired early and have an immediate effect on children’s interests.
So, it’s no surprise that this “brilliance = males” stereotype continues after childhood, and can partly explain the gender gaps in many prestigious occupations. Did you know that you can predict both women’s and African Americans’ representation by simply counting the words “genius” and “brilliant” in students’ reviews (here is the full paper)?
Correlation does not imply causation?
Yes in general, but not in this case.
Studies have been done to prove this.
One of the effect of stereotypes in an early age affect math-performance (here),
Two studies showed that the activation of negative stereotypes can impede cognitive performance in adults, whereas positive stereotypes can facilitate cognitive performance.
Research showing that 6- and 11-year-old children's beliefs about job status and job interests are affected by the gendered nature of jobs. And this was even true for the novel professions kids didn’t hear about before, but were portrayed with either man or woman.
If children absorb and act on these ideas then many capable girls are likely to have already veered away from certain fields by the time they reach college.
Key takeaway?
Watch out for your own unconscious biases.
And be reminded of the research we mentioned two weeks ago — encouragement is most important when it comes to girls and technology. This is particularly important given that young women are half as likely as young men to receive that encouragement (in any form).
Statistics say that you are not saying nice things to your daughter, especially when it comes to her intelligence.
Start practicing!