1

Copyright TrueChild, Inc A Key to Improving STEM Interest & Achievement Femininity & STEM

What We Do g 3 Thought leadership that… …promotes addressing gender norms …in programs and policies that …serve at-risk girls and boys TrueChild

Copyright TrueChild, Inc Activities 1 Provide Trainings 2Bring Experts & Practitioners Together 3Develop & Disseminate Model Programs g 2

TrueChild Experts 5

6 Riki Wilchins, M.A. 25 years advocating on gender issues and youth Author of 3 books on gender theory Founding Executive Director of GenderPAC Profiled in the New York Times Time Magazine named one of “100 Civic Innovators for the 21 st Century” Executive Director

7 Today’s Workshop 1.About TrueChild 2.Some Background 3.Gender Glossary 4.About Gender Norms 5.Femininity& Masculinity 6.Femininity & STEM 7.Common Objections 8.Unanswered Questions 9.How We Can Help This PPT based on workshops presented to: :

Some Background 8 Programs & research do great job: External Obstacles  Chilly classroom climate  Masculine pedagogy  Lack of role models Interpersonal Obstacles Negative parental or teacher attitudes Stereotype threat

Some Background 9 Programs & research don’t address much on: Internal Obstacles  Girls own belief systems & attitudes

10 If internal beliefs not involved, why… STEM interest measurably decline grades 5-9 By 8 th grade ½ girls interested as boys Even among girls with good STEM grades who liked in elementary school What happens around ages 8-14? Some Background

Gender Intensification Period 11 Femininity and masculinity are learned  Late adolescence through early teens (8-14)  Interest in traditional norms accelerates  Belief in them solidifies

Gender Intensification Period 12 The central rite of passage for adolescents and teens

7 Degrees of Gender 13 Gender as Trait Characteristics of looks or behavior considered masculine or feminine Gender as Sex Courts and media increasingly using “gender” when they mean biological sex Gender Expression Expressing being masculine or feminine through clothing & behavior Gender Identity Inner sense of being male or female Gender is “overloaded” and used in many contexts

7 Degrees of Gender 14 Gender Norms Socially-constructed ideals, scripts, expectations for manhood/womanhood; in sex (and GBV) who does what, to whom, when, how and for what reason Gender Transformative Programs & policies that highlight, challenge, and change rigid feminine or masculine gender norms (coined by Geeta Rao Gupta)

15 Gender Norms Are Learned About Gender Norms Compliments of Boondocks comics

About Gender Norms Gender Norms are Relational Have no meaning in isolation (zero sum) Are defined through interaction between & among girls & boys Create boy & girl inequities & social imbalances

Gender Norms Are Highly Regulated What kids are called when they don’t fit gender ideals… 17 Boys Girls About Gender Norms

Enhanced in Low-Income Communities Gender codes can be especially narrow Strong peer pressure on the street Harsher punishment for transgression Fewer resources for constructively displaying femininity or masculinity 18

Traditional Masculinity 19 “We’re in this box, and in order to be in that box, you have to be strong, you have to be tough, you have to have lots of girls, you gotta have money, you have to be a player or a pimp, you gotta to be in control, you have to dominate other men, and if you are not any of those things, then people call you soft or weak or a p*ssy or a chump or a f*ggot and nobody wants to be any of those things. So everybody stays inside the box.” Byron Hurt

Traditional Femininity 20 Quiet Vulnerable Dependent Deferential Very Attractive to Males Oriented Towards Getting Boyfriend Need Male Attention to Be Complete Pretty, Long Haired, Super-Thin Emotional So What’s Missing?? Scientific Logical Rational Calculating Intellectual Assertive Intelligent Dominant

Femininity & Behavior 21 Girls who buy into traditional femininity more likely to… Leave school early Have teen or unplanned pregnancies Be victim of girlfriend abuse or partner violence Focus on looks, make-up and weight Need male approval Have low self-efficacy and low self-worth Objectify or be out of touch with body Judge themselves on looks, popularity Be depressed Develop eating disorders

Femininity & STEM 22 A double-bind Girls must choose … Opt out of femininity…. or opt out of STEM

23 Focus Group Results: Pretty… or Smart? At first claimed they could be smart and feminine. Described pretty classmate with long hair who “no one sees as a pretty girl in that class because she is so smart. She’s like a nerd.” Then said “Yes, but not in junior high!”, because as more interested in boys, they had to “dumb it down then.” Femininity & STEM

24 Girls noted that…  They all loved math in elementary school  In late elementary began focusing on looking pretty  Began to fall behind  Once behind, catching up was possible…  And they lost all interest in math. Interesting and unexpected connections Focus Group Results: Pretty… or Smart?

Femininity & STEM 25 Presented with research around 3rd grade girls stop doing as well in math and science, participants agreed likely reason was that’s when girls start noticing boys, implying an inherent conflict. “This is when girls start giving up on math.” “It’s when they start noticing the boys.” (All participants agree.) “This is when they start thinking ‘I can’t be pretty.’” “Girls focus more on ‘oh, he wants me to be pretty.’” “Girls start slacking on academics and worrying about their appearance.” Not all concerns addressed by external barriers approach, changing parent/teachers attitudes, or more role models! Focus Group Results: Pretty… or Smart?

Common Objections 26 Mining Girls Attitudes is “Blaming the Victim” Girls aren’t victims Assumes girls at mercy of external forces Denies girls’ own agency Loses resources girls themselves can bring (i.e., Af-Am girls & eating disorders)

Common Objections G 27 So then it’s ALL gender? No…complex, multifaceted problem Not saying… Gender is the “only dog in the fight” But… Gender is biggest dog NOT in the fight In other words, feminine norms biggest variable we’re NOT yet addressing

Unanswered Questions 28

Unanswered Questions 29

Unanswered Questions 30

Unanswered Questions 31 Research base is extensive. looks good at first… But really mostly tangential

Gender Norms Now Widely Addressed (but not in STEM) 32 Unanswered Questions

33 Perhaps most crucially:  No one has developed gender transformative STEM program  A very rich field for inquiry, testing, new applied solutions!

34 How we can help

35 How we can help

Sample Exercise #1 The “Woman Box/Man Box” 36 Girl Box Boy Box

Sample Exercise #2 “What Are We Called?” 37 Male Female

38 truechild.org