Study published in Science shows that little girls associate the quality of being “very, very intelligent” with a man rather than a woman
In certain professional fields, the male over-representation is flagrant. When trades involve particular physical skills, it is understandable. But in intellectual careers, it has no reason to exist. However, in the world, while 53% of holders of a scientific license are women, (and 43% of doctors), they only account for 28% of researchers (33% in the European Union), and for just 19% of engineers in Canada, the United States and Germany, according to a UNESCO report.
An imbalance which could be explained, according to American researchers, by the solidity of certain sexual stereotypes which would suggest that women cannot be as brilliant as men. These stereotypes are active in little girls from the age of 6, they explain in an article published in the journal Science.
Men supposed to be smarter
“We notice that, not only do little girls absorb stereotypes about intelligence as soon as they enter primary school, but in addition, they choose their activities based on these stereotypes”, explains Andrei Cimpian, professor of psychology at New York University, and one of the study’s authors.
To arrive at these conclusions, by partnering with a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Illinois (United States), and Sarah-Jane Leslie, professor of philosophy at Princeton, he studied the reactions of girls and of boys aged 5 to 7, facing a story describing someone “very, very intelligent”.
The character was asexual, and the narrative was totally void of reference to a man or a woman. After reading it, the researchers asked the children to choose who the character in the story might look like, giving them a choice of four photos, two of which were of men, and two of women.
The youngest, boys and girls alike, chose an individual of their own sex. But from the age of 6, girls were much more inclined to indicate that the bright character was a man, thus bending to stereotypes.
The more persevering girls
To complete this experiment, the psychologists offered the children to choose between two games. One of them was for “very very smart” children, and another for “very, very hard” children. And among those who had chosen a man in the previous experience, many chose the second version of the game.
Research by the same team, but carried out on adults, had shown a clear correlation between occupations in which professionals are expected to be brilliant – mainly scientific careers – and those where women are under-represented.
“This work provides insight into the intransigence of gender disparities in science and mathematics,” said David Moore, director of the development science program at the US National Science Foundation. He underlines the importance of attacking the problem of gender disparity in society, showing that this same society sustains them and influences us, from an early age. “
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