Mental Health

Why Do Girls Think They're Bad At Math And Science?

By Abbie Kraft | Update Date: Jan 31, 2017 08:49 PM EST

Statistics reveal that girls would often think that they are not good with STEM courses compared to boys. Researchers shed light into the stigma as to why girls think they're bad at math and science compared to boys.

Parents should not be startled when their grade school daughters tell them that them that they're not good with math, nor science. Girls are caught with the stigma that compared to their male counterparts, females are bad at math, science and other STEM courses.

A post by Artful Math mentioned that 37 percent of women in the United States would tag themselves as someone who is bad at math, which is almost twice as men where only 21 percent professed that they're not good with numbers.

One of the angles being pointed out is the fact that women are caught with the "Girls are Bad At Math" stigma, thus it is already embedded in their beliefs that girls are not capable of dealing with numbers. It was then added that the cultural gender gap when it comes to math is the biggest factor as to why girls are more likely to fail according to NPR.

"You might think these stereotypes start in college, but we know from a lot of developmental work that children are incredibly attuned to social signals," Andrei Cimpian, a professor of psychology stated.

Cimpian who did a study in regards to gender biases on math and other STEM courses mentioned that gender stereotypes starts at an early age at around five or six. Cimpian and his team gathered 96 participants who were all children.

When asked to identify who's the smartest person in the photo, 5-year-old boys said their own gender was smart 71 percent of the time while only 69 percent of the girls.

© 2023 Counsel & Heal All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics