The European Union recently put out a music video to encourage girls to go into science -- and recalled it after a chorus of complaints. The video was a viral disaster.
The critics who said the video was sexist and superficial had a point. The content looked more like Sex in the City than Respect in the Lab. Young girls in mini-skirts are shown prancing in four-inch heels and blowing kisses at test tubes, while a man in a white lab coat looks admiringly at them.
The goal was to reach out to the 13-to-17 demographic in time for female students to take foundational courses in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in school to launch them into STEM careers. That's a laudable goal. But the video message came across as "Wear short skirts; girls are just decorative" rather than "Take Algebra and prepare for the thrill of achievement in STEM."
The rest of the EU campaign "Science -- It's a Girl Thing!" was actually quite good. A tab on the website called "Six Reasons Science Needs You" reminds girls that the challenges our world faces need to be tackled by all of us -- challenges like health and well being, food security, secure and clean energy, smart transport, climate action, and innovative/secure societies. Those problems aren't pink or blue.
To provide positive role models for girls, the EU site also has video profiles of accomplished and attractive scientists: Ilaria Capua, an Italian veterinary virologist; Yael Naze, a Belgian astrophysicist; Joanna Pawlat, a Polish engineer in material science; and Nadia Berloffa, an Italian student in engineering.
And there are descriptions of science dream jobs like robotics engineer, ocean energy engineer, fuel cell engineer, aerospace engineer, biochemist, naval architect, environmental geriatrician, agronomist, zoologist, renewable energy engineer, immunologist, neuroscientist, marine biologist, hydrologist, environmental engineer, and climatologist. Those are not only exciting jobs, they will be among the higher-paying jobs of the future, which means the pay gap between men and women will get greater if girls don't gravitate toward STEM studies.
I'm hoping the recent video fiasco doesn't cause the EU to give up its three-year outreach campaign because the gender gap in STEM fields is a serious problem in the United States as well as Europe.
The need for many more girls to prepare for STEM careers is real -- according to the Commerce Department, women constitute 48 percent of the workforce in the United States, but hold just 24 percent of the STEM jobs. What's more, women with a STEM degree are less likely than their male counterparts to work in a STEM occupation; they are more likely to work in education or health care jobs, which pay less.
No doubt about it, there are women going into STEM fields today who are glamorous and brainy -- to cite just one example, the new Miss Utah, Kara Arnold, has a magna cum laude degree in Biochemistry and was just accepted into the medical program at the University of Utah. She's deferring med-school for one year while she travels throughout the state of Utah promoting her platform to young girls, "Discover Your Potential -- Step Up with STEM."
That kind of campaign could help convince more young women that science is an attractive option, but they will need academic skills to succeed. What will really help reduce the gender gap is expanding sound education approaches like National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) to reach more female students.
NMSI's Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program has dramatically increased the number of high school girls taking and passing AP math and science courses in participating schools. In the last three years, APTIP has produced an impressive increase in passing scores for female students on AP math and science of 144 percent.
That's the kind of success we need to multiply across the U.S. In the long run, it is substantial programs like Advanced Placement that will convince young women that having a "beautiful mind" is key to future happiness and success.
Dr. Mary Ann Rankin is President and CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative.
Follow Mary Ann Rankin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@NMSI
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Well, it's pretty simple. Ask the girls. I did. Most adult girls will tell you
"I just don't understand physics!"
And then I tell them:
"No. It's not physics that you don't understand. It's what they were teaching in high school as physics that you don't understand. And that's no wonder... what they are teaching in high school for physics is large animal droppings. It's not what physicists call physics."
Of course, by the time they are given this message, it's too late. The memories of utter failure and humiliation in science class are deeply embedded.
Truthfully, what they are teaching is supposed to be Newtonian mechanics and some rudimentary electrostatics and magnetostatics, but at best it is late 18th century versions of either. Worst case, if the teacher is not well prepared, it's not even that but simply wrong.
Additionally, we are cutting out all the basic explanations of what science is, which are important for an understanding of physics. They are not explaining what a measurement is. They are not explaining that all of it rests on a healthy trust that nature is not going to cheat etc.. Scientists know all of this by heart. Most teachers do not. And that is why most kids, and not just girls, don't like physics.
P.S. I believe I've encountered you in many a scientific context and have wondered if you will be content to find so little intellectual curiosity. I'm in no way trying to play match maker, but I think you would enjoy banter with a reader calling herself ProudToBeVeryLiberal. At any rate, I expect that she'll hold her own and shift your idea of girls and physics. Just a thought.
Having said that, they weren't teaching physics properly 45 years ago, either. Some teachers were/are. Mine was. As a result three people of my class alone went into physics. Having said that, the "humiliation" piece was present, even in his classroom.
So what can we change? The easiest thing, IMHO, is to expose kids to way more lab science. Let them do real experiments. With real equipment. That's something we can easily do today and it gets kids way more engaged than the best theory lesson.
ProudToBeVeryLiberal... yeah... we had our share of differences. :-)
All the studies I've read suggest that the issue isn't women aren't going into the sciences, it's that women tend to gravitate towards certain scientific fields and men to others; and in science occupations, males are more likely to hold research positions and women more likely to hold administrative and managerial positions. These tendencies seem to be a matter of personal choice and preference, so I don't know that there is necessarily a problem here that needs correcting. But encouraging anyone to go into the sciences or at least take an interest in them is a good thing, I don't really see a need to single out one gender more than the other, because there is a dearth of both male and female talent in STEM fields these days.
Ladies: this stuff is NOT beyond your ability. Don't let this be the exclusive province of old white guys.
The GRAAA does lots of public outreach, at the Veen Observatory and even in downtown Grand Rapids! Along with my biggest telescope I occupied a section of sidewalk for four nights during ArtPrize in 2011, and I was on the scene at the GR Public Museum for the Venus transit last month. Many people bring their kids along to these events, and they're fascinated. I think that if they saw more women doing this stuff, then eventually women would be equally represented in the professional end of the business.
Life comes in all shapes and sizes. And they are all good!
What a shame.
I 100% support any and all actions that will get more women into the sciences. However, I do not believe there will ever be parity as the majority of women will not be interested.
*Intelligence may have some affect, because there is more variance in the male intelligence, which means more idiots and more geniuses among men. And I know that IQ tests only measure certain qualities, but those are the qiualities that correlate to doing well in math and science.
I am trying to open your mind to the possibility that society is not the perpetrator in every case. If you do not accept the possibility that there may be a biological component to the dearth of female scientists.
Maybe you went to some sort of closeted religious school and not a public university?