Math challenged? The fact that women tend not to excel in math is more a reflection of a system skewed against them than it is of ability

It simply isn't true that girls are crummy at math. The belief that they are is based on years of tests that showed some boys are better in some areas of mathematics, says Professor Douglas Willms at the University of British Columbia. While boys dominate the upper ranges of math test results, they also dominate the lower levels. Girls cluster around the centre of grade results. It all leads to a bias against women entering post - secondary math and science programs.

In a four - year study, Professor Willms found that girls were as good as or better than boys at math when they entered Grade 3. Later, they developed better computational skills, but fell behind on problem - solving and grasping mathematical concepts. Because they are not in the upper levels of test results as often as boys are, they tend to be overlooked for special mathematics projects and competitions. This, in turn, creates the false impression that they are weak in math, and may influence girls' career choices when they reach secondary school.

But how did all this slanted thinking come about? Prof. Willms says, "We suspect that parental expectations and encouragement are probably the most important influences in the home; these variables have proven to be important determinants of high school achievement...and there is evidence that some parents have different expectations for their daughters than for their sons."

Some feel that same conditioning influences teaching styles too, with teachers spending more time answering questions from male students, for example, or spending more time explaining finer points to them.

Whatever the reason, it seems that girls start losing interest in math by Grade 10. That was among the findings of a B.C. government 1990 Status Report on School Mathematics. Despite the fact that they performed as well as boys, many girls said their career plans did not require math.

And, yes, in 1991, the Smith Commission of Inquiry on Canadian University Education found the same thing; "a troubling under - representation" for women in math and science, as well as engineering and graduate programs generally.

But women are attending university in record numbers. The number of Canadian women with a university degree grew by 86% between 1981 and 1991, according to a 1993 Statistics Canada study. It found, however, that traditional gender divisions in education persist with only small changes in the numbers of women graduating from engineering or math and sciences programs.

These areas are still dominated by men, and women are still seeing all the obstacles, from early socialization to hostility at school and in the workplace, that keep them out," comments an executive member of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.

Instead, women continue to dominate the health professions, education, recreation, and counselling services.

Mathematics Professor Katherine Heinrich agrees that women are constantly being told they cannot and need not do mathematics. Her advice as to how we can all help to counter - act this?

Hire more women with mathematics backgrounds into businesses, and support them once they're there. Provide them with opportunities to be seen and heard, to be accepted and respected -- and to be promoted.

Show the women close to you that you believe in their abilities, show them how important and valuable mathematics is to every part of science and to their future. Help them discover the joy and utility of mathematics.

We need to say more about what we do. Mathematicians are the ones who, among many other things, schedule airline flights, provide the language for error - free satellite and computer communication, build models to predict the flow of oil spills, construct the codes to allow secure financial transactions, and enable you to listen to music on compact discs.

As Professor Heinrich puts it: "We study mathematics for the sheer thrill and joy of finally understanding something in which the mathematical components fit together with a beauty and perfection beyond that of art."

SUGGESTED ACTIVITY:

An American study released in 1994 showed that girls' educational prospects may be limited even before they get to school by the configuration of their families. Studying white American women born between 1920 and 1965, they found that a woman who had only brothers got, on average, more schooling and ultimately made more money than a woman who grew up with one or more sisters. Many women still came from families in which all girls got college degrees. But women's education was significantly affected by their sibling's sex, while men's education wasn't..., suggesting that parents have more clear - cut plans for their sons. If there is only one girl in a family, the same plans may apply to her. Check this out with your parents. Does the theory apply? What factors, other than siblings, influenced their education? What factors do you think will influence your education?

NOTES FROM OUTERSPACE

Complaints came rushing in in October 1992 after Mattel Canada Inc. marketed a Barbie doll that said "Math class is tough." Critics, from women engineers to the Canadian Mathematics Society, said Teen Talk Barbie perpetuated a stereotype that girls are lousy at math and can't think logically. One critic said the company should reconsider its hiring practices and get more people on staff who are socially aware.

Mattel agreed not to use the math sentence in any future dolls and offered to replace any of the dolls consumers returned. By December, only five Barbie buyers in the U.S. had taken Mattel up on its offer and none in Canada had. Some thought that consumers recognized they had made a fine investment -- that the doll had become a collectors' item -- and that some girls might be able to finance some of their higher education by selling it eventually.

FACT FILE

In early 19th century Canada, women taught children in private domestic settings in so - called "dame" schools, while men dominated public schooling.

GIRLS ONLY

In 1993, three California schools decided to have all - girl class rooms for math and science.

As girls reach high school, they tend to fall behind boys in math or lose interest in it. The schools decided that teaching them separately might help solve the problem of boys dominating discussion, receiving more teacher time, and undermining girls' self - confidence.

One student reported that in the all - male classes, boys egged each other on to see who could finish a problem first. In the all - girl classes, if someone did not understand triangulation or matrix logic, those who had figured it out stopped work to explain it to those who had not.

Some researchers who have documented sexual bias in education aren't too sure about the single - sex approach. They favour better teacher training and restructured classrooms that include cooperative learning and other techniques known to help girls.

Copyright Canada and The World Jan 1995
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved