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How Stereotype Threat Can Limit Women’s Achievement

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Yahoo! announced in July 2012 that the company was naming Google’s Marissa Mayer as its new CEO.

Mayer remarked that she hoped more women joined the field. She was once again drawing attention to women’s underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math-related fields (commonly abbreviated as STEM).

Experts and commentators have posited many explanations for women’s under-representation and often claim that women are simply less competent at these fields than men.

However, women are increasingly obtaining advanced STEM degrees. When women and men receive equal training, they perform equally well on STEM-based measures of competence, but many women with STEM degrees never enter the field, opting instead for the humanities.

Thus attributing underrepresentation to women’s innate incompetence isn’t just offensive, it’s not a logical explanation. Stereotype threat, however, may provide an explanation for a significant portion of the discrepancies between men and women.

What Is Stereotype Threat?

Stereotype threat is the tendency of historically oppressed groups to underperform when presented with a stereotype about their group.

For example, a man who watched a presentation about men’s inability to communicate might then become anxious about his communication skills exhibit poor communication with his wife. Similarly, women exposed to stereotypes about their ability to perform in STEM fields are more likely to perform poorly both on tests of competence and on the job.

This of course is not to say that women’s underrepresentation is caused solely by poor performance. There are many factors at play, including socialization, discrimination, and family pressures, but stereotype threat has been demonstrated in dozens of studies and almost certainly plays a role.

Exposure to Stereotypes

Women are exposed to stereotypes about their science and math competence on a regular and persistent basis. Popular commentators claim that women are innately less competent than men. Coworkers and friends may make snide comments about women’s spatial reasoning or math skills.

And, of course, there’s women’s underrepresentation in high-paying STEM fields, which is itself verification of a stereotype. Consequently, women who enter these fields encounter near-constant stereotypes.

Correcting for Stereotype Threat

Because women encounter stereotypes in virtually every area of life, it can be difficult for an individual company to correct for the stereotype encountered by female employees. However, education about the effects of stereotype threat may be effective at discouraging behavior that limits women’s potential.

When women have other women available to mentor them, they are more likely to see women as competent engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, making them less susceptible to the effects of stereotypes.

Encouraging Women in STEM Fields

Several factors are at play, even as early as childhood, that can discourage women’s entry into STEM fields. The practice of giving girls “girl” toys such as dolls and makeup makes it less likely that women will become interested in STEM fields.

Several studies have documented that parents — particularly fathers — are less likely to encourage girls’ interest in math and science.

Parents of girls should not accept statements such as “Math is too hard” and should not tell their children that math is harder for girls than for boys.

Older girls and adult women can benefit from extra tutoring time in math and science. Several studies have demonstrated that additional teaching time in these fields can compensate for performance differences between men and women.

Tutoring and mentoring may also help to undermine stereotype threat by instilling further confidence.

Sources:

BuzzFeed. (n.d.). BuzzFeed. Retrieved from
http://www.buzzfeed.com/hillaryreinsberg/googles-marissa-mayer-i-really-...

Fine, C. (2010). Delusions of gender: How our minds, society, and neurosexism create difference. New York, NY: W. W. Norton.

Spencer, S. J., Steele, C. M., & Quinn, D. M. (1999). Stereotype threat and women's math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35(1), 4-28. doi: 10.1006/jesp.1998.1373

Edited by Jody Smith

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