New University of Louisville research shows young girls increasingly see women as knowledgeable about science, a shift over the past few decades that could signal a move toward gender parity in STEM fields.
In a recent study published in Developmental Psychology, researchers Khushboo Patel, Judith Danovitch, and Nick Noles showed 257 preschool and elementary school-aged kids pictures of different adults and asked them who would know more about science and from whom they would want to learn.
While other factors, such as the adults’ race, didn’t seem to play any significant role in the kids’ opinions, gender did — they overwhelmingly chose the adult who had the same gender as them. That is, boys thought the men would know more about science, and girls thought women would.
“This marks a significant shift in children’s thinking, where girls are starting to see women as knowledgeable about science and want to learn science from them,” said Patel, a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, part of UofL’s College of Arts and Sciences. “This may eventually help girls envision themselves as doing science, too.”
Understanding the cause of that shift could help address the gender gap in STEM — or, science, technology, engineering and math. Although that gap has narrowed significantly over the past decade, as of 2021, women still held just one-third of all STEM jobs. For reference, Patel said, past studies done around a decade ago found most kids saw men as more capable of doing science than women, regardless of their own gender.
Representation is likely a critical factor in driving that shift, Danovitch said. Young girls and boys alike are seeing more examples of female scientists in their lives and in popular culture — think Doc McStuffins and Ada Twist Scientist.
“It used to be that STEM was seen as being just for boys,“ said Danovitch, a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences. “You could see that in media or walking down the toy aisle. But today, girls are starting to see women as knowledgeable about science.”
For parents and educators, Patel said, this shift presents an opportunity to help girls engage in STEM if they wish to. That might mean providing examples of different kinds of people who are scientists, introducing girls to women in science careers, and avoiding even well-intentioned gendered language when talking about science.
“For example, saying ‘girls are just as good as boys at science’ just affirms that boys set the standard,” she said. “Overall, we hope this research serves as a reminder of the importance of representation in science education. Anyone can be a scientist if they want to be.”
