No divide between math, gender

By Joe Johnson
The Collegian

Research shows that gender may not affect mathematical ability as much as stereotypes do.

“The findings suggest that people tend to accept genetic explanations as if they’re more powerful or irrevocable, which can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies,” University of British Columbia psychology professor Steven J. Heine said in an interview with CNN.

The study, conducted in Canada from 2003 to 2006, set out to discover whether the perceptions of a stereotype about women and their ability to do math could have a detrimental effect on their performance.

“The study features an exam in three parts, sort of like the SAT,” Fresno State Mathematics department chair Peter Tannenbaum said. “There was a math section, then reading comprehension, followed by more math.”

Tannenbaum said in the reading section for one test group, articles talked about the genetic differences between males and females. In another test group, the articles discussed only environmental differences. He said the people did not realize that the articles were influencing them, and therefore the readings affected how they performed in the math portion of the test.

Psychology professor Misha Thackrey said the results of the test were “only natural.”

“Women live in an entirely different social environment and go through different genetic changes than men,” Thackrey said. “So, yeah, there are going to be some differences.

“But you also aren’t going to find anybody today that will tell you that genetics alone affect this. It just won’t happen. There is too much evidence that environmental factors play a huge role to lump it all under one cause.”

But while the genetic differences were not the focus of these social psychological tests, Tannenbaum said not to discount the role they could potentially play.

“I think it is a self-fulfilling prophecy more than anything,” Tannenbaum said. “But a lot of studies show that females are more left-brained than men, so you can’t rule out the possibility that there is some sort of inherent genetics at play there.

“Women do many things better than men and vice versa, but whether or not math is one of them, I don’t know. Once you are able to remove or dampen the stereotype, everyone tends to perform at the same level.”

Thackrey said this study is just one of many that have been conducted on this subject.

“This study is comparatively little, but it is consistent with a lot of other findings, which makes it significant,” Thackrey said. “It doesn’t stand alone.”

The study came about as a reaction against a common misconception that has been around for many years.

“When I was in junior high school, back during the 1960s, there were only six girls in my algebra 2 class, because the counselors often talked women out of taking it,” librarian Diane Majors said. “They told us that girls just don’t take higher level math.

“Then, for senior year, most students took trigonometry, but there were no girls at all in that class. ‘Girls don’t do trig,’ is what they told me.”

Mathematics and computer science major Julie Pena found that the higher she goes in the master’s degree program, the fewer women she sees.

“If I tell most people that I am a math major, they act surprised,” Pena said. “I think if you got that kind of response from people a lot when you are younger, that would influence your opinions on how inclined you are towards math.”

According to the mathematics department at Fresno State, 41 percent of registered math majors are female.

“I can tell you from personal experience that when we have searches in the math department for faculty members, there is a dramatic difference between 20 years ago, when I started working here, and now,” Tannenbaum said. “Back then, maybe four percent of our candidates would be women, just one out of 10 applicants at best.

“Today, it’s more like 40 percent. Plus, we are producing an equal number of male and female math majors in our department.”

But while the study may help in bridging this social misconception, Pena believes that most of the problem lies with the media hyping up the situation.

“Nowadays, a math class just feels like any other class,” Pena said. “If you are in a class that is mostly full of guys and very few girls, the male teachers tend to notice you more. You get extra encouragement, so no one gets left behind or thinks that they aren’t as good.

“At the same time, I don’t feel like I need it. I mean, why do I need extra encouragement just because I’m a woman? It is nice, but I can do the work just the same with or without help. Other girls can, too.”

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