The Persistence of Gender Myths in Math

By Rosalind Chait Barnett & Caryl Rivers

Should we be worried that young girls are not pursuing math-related careers at the same rate as young men? After all, in our technological era, many of tomorrow’s well-paying jobs will require competence at mathematics. But today, women make up only 19 percent of the science, engineering, and technology workforce. In 1998, only 16 percent of computer science degrees were awarded to women, down from nearly 40 percent in 1984, and the downward trend continued in 2003.

Can teachers have a role in changing this picture? Or would they just be going up against innate biological differences in a futile attempt at social engineering?

Some argue that girls don’t have the right brain structures to be good at math. Cambridge University Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen, the author of The Essential Difference , goes so far as to say that men have “systematizing brains” well-suited for the hard sciences. Women, in contrast, have “empathizing brains,” designed for caretaking and mothering. And the best-selling author Michael Gurian ( The Wonder of Boys ) says that only 20 percent of girls have the right brain structure for...