Think Girls can’t do maths? You’re wrong—but new research shows you might not change your mind, even if you get evidence to the contrary. A study of how both boys and Girls perceive each other’s mathematical ability finds that an unconscious bias against girls could be skewing hiring decisions, widening the gender gap in mathematical professions like engineering.
The inspiration for the experiment was a 2008 study published in Science that analyzed the results of a standardized test of maths and verbal abilities taken by 15-year-olds around the world. The results challenged the pernicious stereotype that females are biologically inferior at mathematics. Although the female test-takers lagged behind males on the math portion of the test, the size of the gap closely tracked the degree of gender inequality in their countries, shrinking to nearly zero in emancipated countries like Sweden and Norway. That suggests that cultural biases rather than biology may be the better explanation for the math gender gap.
The fact that girls not only tend to underestimate their own maths skills when they are job candidates but also underestimate the ability of other girls when they are in a hiring position reveals what “members of disadvantaged groups are costing themselves.
