conference on the legacy and future of feminism april 11, 2008 1 rosalind chait barnett, ph.d....

Conference on the Legacy and Future of FeminismApril 11, 2008

1

Rosalind Chait Barnett, Ph.D.Community, Families & Work Program

Women’s Studies Research CenterBrandeis University

Women in Science: Against All Odds


2

There are at least three gender stereotypic beliefs that are widely held, often repeated, and taken to bolster the idea that women’s under-representation in math and science is inevitable.


3

• Women have never made it into the ranks of the most accomplished mathematicians and scientists.

• Innately, women don’t have what it takes to succeed in math and science.

• Women’s brains, cognitive skills, motivations, and hormones are deficient.


4

Women have never made it into the ranks of the most accomplished mathematicians and scientists.


5

European Renaissance: 14th -17th Centuries


6

Amazing abundance of male super-star scientists


7

Nicholaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) called the founder of modern astronomy

Galileo Galilei(1564-1642) called the "father of modern observational astronomy", “modern physics", & the "father of science".

Pierre de Fermat (1601 - 1665 ) generally regarded as

the greatest number theorist of all times

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) one of the most important scientists in the field of astronomy, having been the first to explain planetary motion


8

Gottfried Leibniz (1646 - 1716) best known for having invented differential and integral calculus.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) the greatest mathematician of his generation and considered one of the foremost scientific intellects of all time.

René Descartes (1596-

1650) is one of the

most important

Western philosophers

of the past few

centuries. During his

lifetime, Descartes

was just as famous as

an original physicist,

physiologist, and

mathematician

Leonardo da Vinci

(1452 – 1519)


9

During this extraordinary period, what were the women doing?


10

Elite women had only two life options:

• An arranged marriage

• Life in a convent


11

For elite women, annual pregnancy was the general rule; contraceptives were not widely introduced until the 18th century.

Fraser, A. (1984). The weaker vessel: Knopf.


12

What was convent life like?


13

Is it any wonder that the pursuit of science was then and has continued to be deemed a male pursuit?


14

With the Protestant Reformation and the decline of convent life, other obstacles to women’s education emerged in Europe and in the U.S.


15

“As the brain develops, the ovaries shrivel” (Fausto-Sterling, A. (1985). Myths of gender. New York: Basic Books)

“Education will undermine their health and that of their future children”

“Education will decrease their willingness to do housework or obey their husbands”

“Education will lead to their inclusion in men’s activities and to taking over men’s jobs”


16

Are universities hostile places for women faculty?


17

Does the peer-review system evaluate women and men on an equal basis?


18

Two Swedish scientists noted that female scientists applying for prestigious fellowships at the Swedish Medical Research Council (MRC) during the 1990s had been less than half as successful as male applicants.

Wenneras, C., & Wold, A. (1997). Nepotism and sexism in peer-review. Nature, 387(22 May), 341-343.


19

Three subjective evaluation parameters:

1. Scientific competence,

2. Relevance of the research proposal, and

3. The quality of the proposed methodology.


20

The inference is that women earned lower scores because they were less productive.

But were they?


21

Did men and women with equal objective scientific productivity scores receive the same subjective competence ratings by the MRC reviewers?

NO!


22Wenneras, C., & Wold, A. (1997). Nature, 387 (22 May), 341-343.

Figure 1: The mean competence score given to male (red squares) and female (blue squares) applicants by the MRC reviewers as a function of their scientific productivity, measured as total impact. One impact point equals one paper published in a journal with an impact factor of 1.


23

To be awarded the same competence score as a male colleague, a female scientist would have to produce approximately three extra papers in high-impact journals such as Nature or Science or 20 extra papers in excellent specialist journals such as Atherosclerosis, Gut, Infection and Immunity, Neuroscience or Radiology.


24

In sum, a female applicant had to be 2.5 times more productive than the average male applicant to receive the same competence score.


25

This study provides direct evidence that the peer-review system is subject to sex bias.


26

Women don’t have what it takes to succeed in math and science!


27

A meta analysis of math aptitude scores from 4,000,000 students, found that sex differences were tiny.

Hyde, J. S., Fennema, E., & Lamon, S. J. (1990). Gender differences in mathematics performance: A meta analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 107(2), 139-155.


28

Gender differences in mathematics performance

-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

Standardized Scores

Females

Males

Effect size = 0.15

Source: Hyde, J. S., Fennema, E., & Lamon, S. J. (1990). Gender differences in mathematics performance: A meta analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 139-155.

Num

ber

of P

eopl

e


29

Tests compared math scores of grammar school kids in the U.S., Taiwan and Japan.


30

• Spelke--five "core systems" at the foundation of mathematical reasoning.

• First, a system for representing small exact numbers of objects — the difference between one, two, and three. (5 mos.)

• Second, understanding numerical magnitudes — the difference between a set of about ten things and a set of about 20 things.

• Third, a system of natural number concepts that children construct as they learn verbal counting. This takes place between about the ages of two and a half and four years.


31

• Fourth and Fifth are systems first seen in children when they navigate: understanding the geometry of the surrounding layout and identifying landmark objects.

• There is, she notes, a biological foundation to mathematical and scientific reasoning that emerges in children before any formal instruction. These systems develop equally in males and females.

• “There’s not a hint of an advantage for boys over girls in any of these five basic systems.”


32

No.

Average performance High performance

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

num

ber

scor

ing

90-1

00%

girlsboys

Are Boys Better at Representing Numbers?


33

No.

(Spelke, LaMont & Lizcano, aggregated data)

0102030405060708090

100

4-8 years (N = 47)

perc

ent

corr

ect

perf

orm

ance

girlsboys

Average performance High performance

0123456789

10

4-8 years (N = 11)

num

ber

scor

ing

95-1

00%

girlsboys

Are Boys Better at Representing Objects?


34

Are Boys Better at Learning to Count?

No male advantage on average or at the highest levels.

0

10

20

30

40

50

1 2 3 4 5 6 counter

Highest known number

Num

ber

of p

arti

cipa

nts

boysgirls

3 year-old children


35

Map-Reading

Children typically begin to understand map tasks at about 4 years.

Considerable variability in map reading at all ages.


36

Are Boys Better at Map Reading?

No.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

percentile score

num

ber

of p

arti

cipa

nts

girlsboys

4 year-old children


37

Women’s brains, cognitive skills, motivations, and hormones are deficient.


38

Brain Structure


39

“men have “systemizing” brains, whereas women have “empathizing” brains”

(Baron-Cohen, 2003, p. 27)


40

Brain StructureMale Systematizing Brain Female Empathizing BrainMastery of hunting Making friends

Mastery of tracking Mothering

Trading Gossiping

Achieving & maintaining power “Reading” your partner

Gaining expertise

Tolerating solitude

Taking on leadership roles

Using aggression

– Simon Baron-Cohen, The essential difference: The truth about the male and female brain. New York: Basic Books, 2003.


41

Brain Structure

• “The brains of men differ from the brains of women in several ways. Men have larger brains with more neurons (even correcting for body size) though women have a larger percentage of grey matter. Since men and women are equally intelligent overall, the significance of these differences is unknown.”

- Steven Pinker


42

Cognitive Skills


43


44


45

In the experimental group, both male and female college students improved with training on the mental rotation test.

However, females showed greater improvement than males, such that the prior gender differences were substantially reduced on the mental rotation task.

Feng, J., Spence, I., & Pratt, J. (2007). Playing an action video reduces gender differences in spatial cognition. Psychological Science, 18(10), 850-855.


46

IMPLICATIONS

• Visuospatial skills can be learned, they are neither innate nor immutable.

• Training with an appropriately designed action-video game could play a significant role as part of a larger strategy designed to interest women in science and engineering careers.


47

All students with low scores on a test of visuospatial ability were encouraged to enroll in a course to improve these skills.


48

The gains made by students on these spatial-skills tests as a result of participation in the course were statistically and materially significant.


49

Hormonal Differences


50

Boys’ higher level of testosterone causes them to strive for dominance, exhibit more aggression and competition.


51

Men Women

Developmental Stage Level Range Level Range

Prenatal & First 7 mos.

60 15-120 3 1-10

1-7 yrs old 3 1-10 3 1-10

8 until puberty 100 20-300 15 3-30

Young adult 600 200-1,000 50 15-100

60 yrs old 300 30-600 30 3-60Goldstein, J. S. (2001). Table 3.1, War and gender: How gender shapes the war system and vice versa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Typical testosterone levels by developmental stage and gender (in nanograms per deciliter of blood.)


52

Testosterone Social Behavior

TestosteroneTestosterone


53

Women are not motivated to work long hours.


54

“Given the hours people work, it should come as no surprise that many employees (63 percent) would like to work less. There is no difference in the proportions of men and women who would like to work fewer hours, and both would reduce their current total work week by about 11 hours on average if they could.

Bond, J. T., Galinsky, E., & Swanberg, J. E. (1998). The 1997 national study of the changing workforce (No. W98-01). New York: Families and Work Institute.)


55

From 1997 to 2007Fewer Mothers Prefer Full-time Work


56

• “Part-Time Looks Fine To Working Mothers; 60% Prefer It to Full-Time Washington Post, July 12, 2007

• Work or stay at home? It’s still a quandary; Moms struggle with guilt over their choices. USA Today, October 3, 2007

• Gap widens in how moms view working USA Today, July 12, 2007

• The Full-Time Blues The New York Times, July 24, 2007

• Moms eye part-time jobs to achieve work-life balance The Christian Science Monitor, September 17, 2007


57

Were the conclusions supported by the Pew Research Center Study?


58

Sample of Mothers1997 2007

Full-Time 32% (N=101) 24% (N=54)

Part-time 48% (N=152) 60% (N=155)

Not working 20% (N=63) 19% (N=49)

Total Mothers 317 259


59

Reports of work-hours preferences “are very sensitive to question wording” (p.

620). Some questions “are less than ideal because they do not mention income and may thus encourage respondents to report the number of hours they would work if it had no impact on their incomes (p. 624).


60

Considering everything, what would be the ideal situation foryou—working full-time, working part-time, or not working at alloutside the home?


61

The Power of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies


62

Parent-Child Interactions

1. Giving Directions

2. Talking about evidence without causal connections

3. Providing explanations about causal connections.


63Crowley, K., Callanan, M. A., Tenenbaum, H. R., & Allen, E. (2001). Parents explain more often to boys than to girls during shared scientific thinking. Psychological Science, 12(3).


64Crowley, K., Callanan, M. A., Tenenbaum, H. R., & Allen, E. (2001). Parents explain more often to boys than to girls during shared scientific thinking. Psychological Science, 12(3).


65

Thus, parents may quite unconsciously, be creating a gender bias in science learning years before their kids ever even see the insides of a science classroom.


66

• Mothers in particular have a strong and long-lasting influence on career choices for their daughters. For example:


67

Bleeker, M. M., & Jacobs, J. E. (2004). Achievement in math and science: Do mothers' beliefs matter 12 years later? Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(1), 13.


68

Thus, to fully understand women’s success in math and science, experiential, cultural, and organizational factors need to be taken into account.


69

The legacy and future of feminism is the constant challenging of gender stereotypes that limit opportunities for women and men.


70

Same Difference

Rosalind Barnett and

Caryl Rivers

www.same-diff.com

conference on the legacy and future of feminism april 11, 2008 1 rosalind chait barnett, ph.d....

Documents

future of feminism

convent slide

odds slide

planetary motion slide

elite women

women dont

father of science

pursuit of science