Women and math have a checkered history in the popular imagination. Remember the Barbie doll that said “Math class is tough”? Mattel removed that phrase from the doll’s repertoire in 1992 after an uproar from women’s groups. Thirteen years later, Lawrence H. Summers, then president of Harvard University, suggested that women may be “innately less able to succeed in math and science careers” and later apologized for those remarks, although he eventually resigned his post. The debate gained new life in January when University of Leeds psychologist Gijsbert Stoet and ... Read More
Scarcity of Men Impacts Women’s Career Choices
April 9, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Many factors can influence a woman’s choice of career. Cultural, or family, traditions. Her specific skill set. Her interests and passions. And whether she senses an abundant supply of available men. That’s the conclusion of newly published research, which finds the mating market, not just the job market, impacts the way women pick their professions. The finding, which is rooted in evolutionary biology, has fascinating implications given the rapid rise of women both on college campuses and in the workplace. “Does the ratio of men to women in the local population influence ... Read More
Study: Mother-Daughter Talks Need More Math
February 23, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
In 2005, then-Harvard University President Lawrence Summers wondered aloud whether the lack of women in science- and math-related careers reflected a difference in aptitude between the genders. His comments spawned outrage, debate, and, thanks to Alicia Chang, an interesting new line of research. A postdoctoral student focusing on early childhood development at the University of Delaware’s School of Education, Chang had been comparing the ways American and Chinese parents speak to their children. Summers’s statement inspired Chang and two colleagues to also examine whether American mothers ... Read More
The Perceived Delicacy of the Female Conductor
February 9, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Many factors influence the way classical music fans respond to a recording. The expressiveness of the composer. The virtuosity of the musicians. And, it seems, the sex of the conductor. Researchers Valerie Folkes of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and Shashi Matta of The Ohio State University provide evidence that gender stereotypes shape our reaction to orchestral performances. But they report these effects aren’t consistent, and for female conductors, they aren’t necessarily negative. “People have strong beliefs about how men and women differ, ... Read More
Sex on the Brain Proves Costly for Men
January 16, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Ladies: Do you have any idea how much power you have over us men? To quote the classic song, it seems the very thought of you is enough to dull our brains. That’s the conclusion of a research team from the Netherlands, which reports the mere anticipation of interacting with a woman can temporarily impede men’s mental abilities. In one experiment, “Casually mentioning a female instead of a male name was sufficient to impair men’s cognitive performance,” the team from the Radboud University Nijmegen Behavioral Sciences Institute writes in the Archives of Sexual Behavior. In ... Read More
Nation’s Science Powerhouse Supports Family Time
September 28, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Internal changes to a government agency's home-and-work policy don't normally warrant a White House rollout and an accompanying Washington Post op-ed. But when the National Science Foundation unveiled plans this week to instill comprehensive support for work-family balance throughout the foundation and its grant work, it was a big step toward redressing the gender gap in U.S. science and engineering. The new policy isn't geared exclusively toward women, although they will be its most practical beneficiaries. Researchers will be able to extend or delay research grants to have a baby or adopt ... Read More
Would Debt-Ceiling Circus Occur With Women in Charge?
August 3, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Congress did finally pass a deal to raise the debt ceiling in the 11th hour (or just 12 hours before default). But no one seems to be cheering the resolution for this reason: The unsightly process that got Congress to this point has revealed an institution so dysfunctional just 2 percent of Americans have anything nice to say about its recent behavior. Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike have instead overwhelmingly summed up the debt-ceiling debate in a new Pew survey with bitter words like "ridiculous," "disgusting," "stupid" and "childish." On the website of Foreign Policy ... Read More
Female Pop Stars: Prepare to Disrobe
July 19, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
There is no shortage of voices decrying the sexualization of mass culture. Just last month, actor and director David Schwimmer complained to a London newspaper: “We have this real emphasis on how important it is to look young and sexual, so that’s the message we’re sending our girls. Look at the biggest pop stars around at the moment: Everything they do is about sex.” Newly published research finds the former Friends star has a point: Over the past four decades, images of female celebrities have become much more sexualized. Evidence of this trend, which troubles feminists and social ... Read More
New Research Suggests Everybody’s Less Satisfied
July 15, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Few research papers hit a nerve like the 2009 report The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness. Over the past 35 years, “women’s happiness has declined both absolutely, and relative to men,” Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers wrote in the American Economic Journal. Some interpreted this as an indirect indictment of the feminist movement, which — the argument went — has given women more freedom but left them less content. While that was not the thesis of the paper’s authors, the notion was debated by newspaper columnists ranging from social conservative Ross Douthat to feminists ... Read More
Making Science Girl-Friendly Pays Gender Dividends
July 14, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
If you want to interest girls in science, show how it will help them investigate stereotypically feminine concerns like caring for their skin and hair, says a just-published study in the British Journal of Educational Psychology. After examining a wide array of science textbooks, University of Luxembourg educational researcher Sylvie Kerger concluded that most present real-world examples are "embedded in masculine contexts." But wrapping scientific subjects — at least initially — around female-friendly topics could kindle interest in scientific fields under-populated by women, Kerger ... Read More
