How different expectations of women in STEM cause different outcomes in success

Imagine back to childhood, did you have a teacher or coach who no matter how well you preformed simply did not think you were capable of succeeding? In contrast, did you have a teacher or coach who despite any history encouraged you and expected you to succeed? Did you notice a difference between the outcomes in these two situations? While there is societal debate currently between inherent motivation and external rewards (think participation trophies), it's likely that it's necessary to have a little of both for maximum success. Think, if two children are to complete the same task, and one is held to the expectation that they are able to succeed and one has the expectations that they will fail, will this change their various outcomes?

Studies published by Teaching As Leadership entitled “The Power of High Expectations: Closing the Gap in Your Classroom” state how students will subconsciously alter their performance in order to meet the expectations of their primary care adults (parents/guardians, family members, teachers).23 In layman’s terms, if you expect students to do well, they will; If you expect them to do poorly, they will. The children likely do not know the differences in expectations being held to them based on their gender, and the teacher or parent often doesn’t realize that they are subconsciously altering their expectations based on the gender of the child.

When it comes to direct instruction, parents and teachers may slightly adjust the way they interact with the child based on a multitude of factors, including age, gender, race, etc. According to a naturalistic observational study of families at science museums, parental actions illustrate the “independence of explicit and implicit gender–science stereotypes.”5 Crowley et al. found that parents who brought their children to science museum exhibits “spontaneously offered more explanations of phenomena to their sons than to their daughters. Here were parents that, ostensibly, were working to expose both their girls and boys to science, yet, unknowingly, were engaging more, teaching more, with the boys.”5 The children were not able to tell the difference in their parents’ actions, and when asked, these parents would “doubtless say (and believe) – explicitly – that they are equally committed to the best possible science education for their child of either sex; that's why they were visiting the science museum!”5 This exemplified the implicit nature of gender stereotypes with regard to the sciences, with parents unintentionally favoring their sons to succeed.

The implicit differences between the parent’s actions may seem minute, but as these unconscious and sex-differentiated patterns in adults' interaction with children in the science domain are the sort that Galdi et al. (2014) speculated may “spur the early development of girls' implicit math-gender stereotypes.”5 The same study found that these implicit math-gender stereotypes were already occurring in six-year-old children, while the explicit gender biases had not yet been learned.5 To test this, Galdi et al. “experimentally exposed six-year-old boys and girls to either stereotype-congruent or incongruent images of children and math accomplishment" and observed the corresponding influence on the implicit gender stereotypes of the children.5 It was shown that the girls' math performance was altered when shown stereotype congruent images, inherently reminding them that girls are not expected to be good at math. The boys, however, were unaffected by either image provided. Conclusions supported by this study, and those who later reproduced this study, show that parents' and teachers' unconscious behaviors may “systematically suggest that certain STEM disciplines are more fitting for one sex than the other”, which may affect the child’s “interest, accomplishment and persistence in particular sciences.”5

While there are multiple ways in which a teacher-student interaction will influence the child, one example of a subconscious gender bias on the side of the teacher/professor would be the unequal distribution of questioning in a classroom. Hall and Sandler showed that “educators will look to male students to answer questions, as if not expecting women to have the abilities to respond, or will call on men more often than women.”7 Eccles and Blumenfeld also found that teachers will “offer feedback about a wrong answer to boys more frequently than to girls.”7 While this is not an example of overt sexism on the professor’s part, it plays just as strong of a role in deterring female students from answering questions, being attentive in lectures and interacting with the professor, all of which are qualities that promote student success. Throughout the course of elementary, secondary and an undergraduate education, the culmination of teachers and professors slyly reminding students that they do not belong can be detrimental.

According to Momsen et al., the style in which a STEM lecture is taught can play a critical role in the creation of the gender gap among the individual students.9 For example, “in courses with traditional instructional methods, this gap appears to persist; however, when instruction consists of highly interactive, research-validated instruction, the prevalence of an achievement gap is less consistent.”9 This relates back to the unequal distribution of professors based on gender, skewing educational settings unintentionally to benefit male students. As the educational ideals shift towards more active participation in classrooms, the gap may minimize. To read more about my experience working in an active learning teaching program, click here.

It is clear that the inherent gender biases of adults has the ability to negatively impact female students in the sciences, although the teachers and professors may be simply unaware that they are doing it. When asked, most professors will respond that they believe their female students are just as apt to succeed in the classes, though their innate actions contradict this. It is important to educate teachers and professors at all levels how their students are impacted by subliminal gender biases, and to have the teachers analyze their own methodologies to ensure that they're most effectively benefitting all of their students.

To read more about a Dichotomy of Realities - An Analysis of Gender and STEM at the University of Wyoming, click here.

References can be found here.