Women in STEM Fields Gaining Momentum

In recent years, there has been a lot of attention drawn on the fact that women are very underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professions. Even the women that are a part of such a work force are underpaid with respect to the males that usually have the same qualifications. This gap has been narrowing for some time now. However, it is still far from being equal.

Part of this fight for equality has been trying to get more women into STEM fields and to create interest in such fields by starting way before such careers. In the New York Times article, “Opening a Gateway for Girls to Enter the Computer Field” by Claire Miller, she discusses programs, such as Girls Who Code, have seen success in getting girls to consider such careers as a possibility. Girls Who Code is a recent program meant to try to close the gender gap between men and women in the field of technology. They offer eight-week programs that teach girls “software programming, public speaking, product development, and other skills to prepare them for jobs in the technology industry.” This is one of many groups – including Hackbright Academy, Girl Develop It, Black Girls Code and Girls Teaching Girls to Code – that are trying to create a more appealing image of computer science.

In Pink Brain, Blue Brain, Lise Elliot acknowledges a similar discrepancy between men and women and attempts to address possible causes. Ultimately, however, she believes that “they don’t add up to anything as simple as innate ability; they involve differences in interests, culture, and experience – all areas where parents and teachers can be effective in encouraging more girls to pursue these important, satisfying careers.” Through programs such as Girls Who Code, it’s trying to compensate for the interests, culture, and experiences that are somehow preventing girls from being interested in pursuing STEM careers.

Programs such as Girls Who Code fits perfectly with some of the tips Elliot suggests in order to help improve the chances of a girl sticking with science and math related fields from adolescence and carrying it on through adulthood, especially when she suggests teachers “teach about the importance of science and math in the high-paying careers.” By bringing awareness to kids early on regarding the economic realities and the essential advantages of a solid technical education for opening more career prospects, along with developing the necessary analytical and logical skills that are very highly regarded in any occupation.

While Girls Who Code is still in its infancy, it is making great progress. It went from teaching 20 girls in New York in 2012 to now accepting 160 girls in San Francisco, Detroit, and New York. They are also working on packaging its curriculum so that way community organizations and schools can teach it as well, and thus spread the message even further. Girls Who Code even hosts events for girls, such as the one it held at Google’s New York office for over 200 girls, parents, and teachers, where attendees were shown apps, future technologies Google is working on, and some of Google’s famous perks.

Whether it’s Lise Elliot in her book, or Girl Who Code, attention is being brought to the great underrepresentation of women in STEM professions and productive work is being done to remedy this gender inequality, showing promising results and a hopeful change for the future.

  

Miller, Claire. "Opening a Gateway for Girls to Enter the Computer Field." DealBook Opening a Gateway for Girls to Enter the Computer Field Comments. N.p., 2 Apr. 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/opening-a-gateway-for-girls-to-enter-the-computer-field/

Elliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2009. Print.

Man vs. Woman: The Brain

What makes a man a man and a woman a woman? This question has become increasingly important in today’s day and age, particularly because researchers are beginning to map the differences between men and women’s brains. The Chicago Tribune recently released an article summarizing the findings of a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine in which almost 1000 brain images were taken of adolescent males and females. The brain images identified that male adolescents had more connectivity within the hemispheres near the upper part of the brain while female adolescents had more connectivity near the sides of the brain. This supported previous research in which women performed better on tests of cognition, attention, and word and face memory while men performed better on tests of sensorimotor speed, spatial processing, and motor skills.

In her book Pink Brain, Blue Brain, author and researcher Lise Elliot, PhD took a far more thorough approach in identifying and explaining the differences between male and female adolescent brains. For example, the reason behind men’s higher performance on spatial ability tasks is due to interaction between biology and the environment. Recent studies have been conducted to show that baby boys (between the ages of 3 to 5 months) can outperform baby girls on a mental rotation task, which identifies spatial ability. This shows researchers that boys are innately better at spatial processing than girls to begin with. As boys grow older into preschool, elementary school, and into adolescence, they partake in activities that improve their spatial processing, such as playing with trucks, throwing a ball in a game of catch, and playing video games that involve driving or shooting. Thus, there is an interaction between the innate biology that baby boys show researchers and environmental activities that creates the large discrepancy between spatial processing in male and female adolescents. This isn't to say that women can't learn these spatial skills, because they certainly can. However, men ultimately have a higher advantage at performing better than a woman on spatial ability. 

These small differences in the brain's connectivity provide an explanation for the differences between men and women's behavior and ultimately gender stereotypes. 

Cited:

Eliot, Lise. (2009). Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps - and What We Can Do About It. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Mohan, Geoffrey. (2013, December 3). Brains of women and men show strong hard-wired differences. The Chicago Tribune.

 

Recess: A Helpful Tool for the Education of Young Males

As time progresses, men are becoming less and less likely to graduate from college. Many researchers attribute this to the slow start that young boys have in the classroom. In a recent article titled, “What Schools Can Do to Help Boys Succeed”, Christina Hoff proposes many ideas concerning reforms that might help young boys excel in the modern classroom. One of the main problems that Hoff attributes to the unfortunate lack of males thriving in school is the limited time that young students spend in recess. Hoff notes how “prolonged confinement in classrooms diminishes children’s concentration and leads to squirming and restlessness…” (Hoff). By not letting children release energy in a constructive manner, they possess and increased risk of discharging themselves by being disruptive in school. Hoff is not alone in this belief. In Pink Brain Blue Brain, Lise Eliot explains how beneficial an active lifestyle can be for the psyche and productivity of children.

Credit: John Spina

Eliot is a strong believer in the significant role that physical exercise plays on the mind. She is quick to provide a scientific explanation for this phenomenon and explains how kids,  “with their immature frontal lobes, can’t sit still for long periods and desperately need physical breaks to recharge their mental batteries” (Eliot, 151). It is likely that any athlete would confirm the many psychological benefits to exercise, but this becomes especially important in young children whose minds are still in the process of developing. While exercise is important to consider for its positive effects on the mental health of all children, it becomes a much larger factor when analyzing the classroom behavior of young boys.

Credit: Justin Tarte

Recess is of so much more importance for a boy’s success in the classroom because his brain typically develops at a later age than a girl’s brain. Eliot ties male fidgeting in the classroom to a deficit of inhibitory control due to under-developed frontal lobes. She also notes the precedence of the frontal lobe and how it is “the most distinctly human but also the slowest region of the cerebral cortex to mature. It is crucial to the child’s ability to sit still, concentrate on the task at hand, and get along with other people” (Eliot, 148). As mentioned earlier, it is the frontal lobes that so greatly benefit from exercise. As schools continue to diminish recess, the young male’s ability to learn and stay focused in school will be debilitated. Hopefully, institutions will learn from the research at hand and develop more methods for boys to express and expel their built up energy.

Works Cited
Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps-and What we Can Do About It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.

Hoff Sommers- Christina. “What Schools Can Do to Help Boys Succeed.” Time.com. Time, 26 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2014

But It's Only Natural...Biological versus Social Psychological Gender Development

Gender differences have always been a topic of discussion, whether it be with regard to different biological developments, social behavior, professional advancement, and most sex associated discrepancies in different fields.  Many scientists and psychologists argue that the differences that arise between genders are due to an innate and biological influence on neurological development which in turn influences personality and cognitive development.  But aren't men and women just naturally different?  Lise Eliot, though agreeing that there is a biological difference in gender development, argues that the majority of these biological developments cannot be associated with personality and cognitive capacity.

            Felicity Muth writes about the differences between boys and girls, and thinks we can learn a few things from the observation of our monkey friends. In her articles, she says that “girls are more sociable than boys, but prefer to play with just one other person, while boys prefer a larger group to play with.” Lise notes and discusses the same early observations on girl and boy behavior. Girls tend to break up into groups of two or three and bond over sharing their feelings with one another, while boys usually form larger groups and have a chain of command or popularity within their little coalitions. The difference in behavior is as Lise argues “a matter of socialization,” because girls are socially responsive by “confessing vulnerable feelings” but this would not be demonstrated in a group of little boys, which would, on the contrary, be detrimental to their image within the group if they displayed such emotions (pg 254-255).  

            Muth writes that most of the interactions of infant chimpanzees display sex differences that last throughout their entire lives, and the fact that they start so early on is pushing researchers to argue that the difference exhibited by the young chimpanzees is indeed biologically based, and similarly so is that of humans. However, after reading Lise’s book “Pink Brain, Blue Brain,” her argument of it being a more social matter seems more valid. For example, the difference in empathy is quite small among children than between men and women  showing that social factors play an active role in this. From an early age, boys are told to be “tougher” or more “manly” and so they suppress their feelings; in turn, this suppression leads to a loss or failure to develop the ability to be aware of others’ emotional expressions. The statement, “Still, as universal as some of these differences appear, none is as hard-wired as commonly portrayed. Like every other brain function we've considered, the social and emotional differences between boys and girls begin as tiny seeds planted by evolution and nourished by hormones but blossoming only under the hot sun of our highly gendered society” adequately sums up how gender differences in personality and behavior ought to be thought of.  

 The point that both Lise and  Muth can agree on, as well as many other neuroscientists and psychologists, is that nothing is conclusive, and though there seem to be leads in the biological direction, studies need to further analyze these differences in gender. Nonetheless, Lise’s book offers strong evidence of the great social impact on these differences or gaps. Furthermore, she offers ways that might help with gender stereotypes, decreasing such gaps, and “paving a way toward better mental health and personal fulfillment for both sexes” (pg. 253). 

Felicity Muth’s article: “Can Chimpanzees Teach us Anything About Differences Between Boys and Girls?” http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/not-bad-science/2014/01/06/can-chimpanzees-teach-us-anything-about-differences-between-boys-and-girls/          
 Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2009. Print.

SoCliche?: Sex Differences and the Olympics

Photo courtesy of Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Alexander Arefyev, the coach of Russia's men's ski jump team has received a considerable amount of backlash from his statement to Izvestia on Jan. 20. Arefyev told the newspaper that he's not a big fan of the debut of the women's ski jump event in the Olympics.

"It's a pretty difficult sport with a high risk of injury," Arefyev said. "If a man gets a serious injury, it's still not fatal, but for women it could end much more seriously."

Even though both men and women can suffer injuries from competing in ski jumping, and Arefyev seems to be hinting at women being the weaker sex, this was not the statement that caused a reactionary response.

Arefyev continued: "If I had a daughter, I'd never let her jump — it's too much hard labor. Women have another purpose — to have children, to do housework, to create hearth and home."

David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene and contributing columnist for The Washington Post, remarked that although Arefyev's statement seems out of place in 2014, it is exactly his type of thinking about sex differences that has kept the women's ski jump event out of the Olympics until this year (compare that to men's ski jumping, which has been an event since the first Winter Games in 1924).

Epstein went on to compare men and women in a variety of other events:

Katherine Switer in the 1967 Boston Marathon.

Women's middle- and long- distance running events were banned from the Olympics for 32 years (until 2008, when women once again competed in all the same events as men in track), due to a common misconception that running these distances would produce infertility and early aging in women. For example, Katherine Switzer, the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon (1967), was told her uterus would collapse.

After women were once again permitted to compete, there was a period of time when it was thought that they would continue improving at great rates as a collective group and eventually pass men's world records in various events. We now know what women's rate of improvement seems to have plateaued, while men are continuing to improve at a small rate.

Why the plateau? Is the long-standing idea that men are simply more suited for sports true? Will Betty Hutton's famous words "anything you can do I can do better," never come true for women athletes? Well, no.

It is true that men are generally heavier and typically have longer limbs, bigger hearts and lungs, less fat, denser bones and narrower hips than women, which lead to their more efficient running capabilities (on average they are 11% faster than women). However, these same differences serve in women's advantage in other events. Women are able to excel in the ski jump, for example, as they are typically lighter and able to fly further distances, and in long-distance swimming the gap between sexes closes, especially in colder waters where women's extra fat is able to keep them warm.

However, and perhaps most importantly, these physical differences between males and females do not emerge until after puberty (usually around the age of 10). Knowing this, there is no biological reason for separating boys and girls in sports in the early stages of their lives.

In her book Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps — and What We Can Do About It, Dr. Lise Eliot discusses how small biological differences between sexes get amplified into much larger differences in the adult years, and what we as society can do about it.

Eliot's topics range from intellectual capabilities (such as math and science scores and spatial reasoning skills) to preferences (for different toys, hobbies, etc.) and from verbal skills to physical traits. She states that gender identification usually occurs at the age of 2 on average, and this is when differences between the two sexes begins to be amplified.

As far as sports are concerned, Eliot remarks that co-ed sports can have an immense importance on children early in their life (before puberty); however, co-ed sports are not often promoted, even toddler sports teams are separated by gender.

Not only do co-ed teams encourage competition amongst females (a quality that becomes increasingly important later in life, as women begin to enter the work force and are beaten out by more-competitive males for higher positions), but it may also help facilitate cooperation skills amongst males.

The purpose of Eliot's book is not to say that there are no differences between sexes, just to make clear that these differences are very small early in life, and that there are things we (parents, teachers, peers, community members) can do to ensure that both sexes have equal opportunities in life.

As far as the Olympics are concerned, the recognition across athletes that men are better at certain events and women are better at others is vital, but it is also important to recognize that there are events in which the two sexes are able to compete on the same playing field, much like in life.

Seeing the Olympics as a small-scale version of the world and society's ever-lasting opinions on sex differences shows just how far we have come in understanding sex vs. gender differences, but also how far we have to go.


REFERENCES:

Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps -- And What We Can Do About It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.

Epstein, David. "How Much Do Sex Differences Matter in Sports?" Washington Post. The Washington Post, 08 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-much-do-sex-differences-matter-in-sports/2014/02/07/563b86a4-8ed9-11e3-b227-12a45d109e03_story.html>.

Peters, Justin. "Women Are Built to Ski Jump. Could They Soar Past the Best Male Jumpers?" Slate Magazine. The Slate Group, 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://www.slate.com/blogs/five_ring_circus/2014/02/11/women_s_ski_jumping_sochi_olympics_why_women_could_soar_past_men_in_the.html>.

There's Something in my Milk...

Prenatal hormones play a significant role in the sexual development of fetuses. In utero, or during pre-birth development in a uterus, fetuses receive a concoction of different developmental hormones that help them develop. When a mother is pregnant with a males, she produces significantly more of the male sex hormone, testosterone, than if she were pregnant with a female (Wolf et al, 2002). Any deviation away from the normal balance of in utero hormones can cause developmental defects.

Below is a brief video explaining how testosterone, a sex hormone, functions in the body.

In her Dr. Lise Eliot's book, Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps - and What We Can Do About It, Eliot stresses the immediacy of gender assignment in the womb. Upon the moment of conception, "a baby's sex is decided...and differences in the brain a mind [take] root before birth (Eliot, p. 20). Sexual differentiation doesn't occur until about halfway through the first trimester, but gender assignment precedes
development.

During and after the pregnancy, most couples are highly concerned with the particulars of their newborn(s): Sex, gender, health, nutrition, characteristics, etc. (Eliot, p. 19). After birth, the mother's role was believed to transition from hormonal supplementation to nutrition. Newborns are reliant on some form of breast milk for nutrition. Modern medicine has provided artificial methods of nutrition to help mothers avoid the baby's demands to stop everything, undress, and feed. Until recently, the mother's direct hormonal role in nutritional supplements was thought to stop after childbirth.

Prof Kate Hinde, Harvard University

Recent studies emerging from Professor Kate Hinde at Harvard University have implied the importance of natural breastfeeding ("Moms' Breast Milk"..., 2014). Natural breast milk contains a specialized combination of sex-specialized fats and proteins often not present in store-bought breast milk.  Natural breast milk has a different combination of these hormones, fats, and proteins based on the sex of the child. Hinde found that rhesus monkey "mothers produce milk with 35% more fat and protein for male babies, and even richer milk when the male was first born" (Baby Boys and Girls..., 2014). For female newborns, mothers  produced milk with less fatty acids and with more Calcium, believed to promote bone growth. The results of Hilde's research have shown that the body creates a specialized concoction of hormones for newborn babies. The implications of this study show that artificial breast milk is not as suitable for newborns as it was believed to be.

The American Association of Pediatrics recommends natural breast milk as the primary form of nutrition for newborns ("Breastfeeding...", 2014). Yet, where does this leave mothers incapable of producing breast milk? While natural breast milk is preferable, formula is still considered an acceptable alternative ("Formula...", 2012). Researchers, like the Hinde, are uncovering the subtleties behind human growth and development. As a result, manufacturers can begin to create healthier substitutes to breast milk.

Research may provide more accurate recipes for artificial breast milk, but for the time being it is safe to assume that natural breast milk is safer than artificial formula.

1. "Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk." Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
2. Cynthia J Wolf, et al. "Effects of Prenatal Testosterone Propionate on the Sexual Development of Male and Female Rats: A Dose-Response Study". 
3. Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps--and What We Can Do about It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print."Formula Feeding FAQs: Getting Started." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Joseph DiSanto. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Jan. 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2014."Moms' Breast Milk Differs Depending on Whether Baby Is a Boy or Girl." NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
4. Sample, Ian. "Baby Boys and Girls Receive Different Nutrients in Breast Milk." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 14 Feb. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
5. Toxilogical Sciences. Volume 65 (2002): 71-86. Web. 18 Feb 2013

Brain Connectivity: Nature v. Nurture

In December 2013, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School published a paper detailing cognitive differences between the male and female brain. The research team of psychologists, neurologists, and radiologists utilized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to study brain connectivity in 941 individuals ranging from ages 8-22. The study revealed prominent differences in the neural wiring of men and women, which researches dubbed "connectomes" (Verma, 2013).

The differences between male and female brains are almost complementary: researches found greater intra-hemisphere connection in males, while females displayed stronger inter-hemisphere connectivity. The Penn team posits that connectome differences might help to explain why men outperform women in spatial and motor skills, and women excel in memory and social cognition tests. Linear brain wiring in males may explain their apparent advantage in tasks involving coordinated muscle control, such as navigating a map. The strong integration of the logical left brain and intuitive right brain could explain women's multitasking and interdisciplinary approach to problems (Verma, 2013).

Researchers noted that gender differences became more pronounced when individuals matured past age 14. Children under the age of 13 displayed the least amount of cognitive disparity, which supports the writings of Lise Eliot in her book Pink Brain, Blue Brain. Dr. Eliot believes that most gender differences are epigentic in origin, meaning that the environment acts upon our genes to shape how we behave. She writes, "Nature and nurture [are not] distinct warring entities.. but are intricately woven" (Pink Brain, Blue Brain, p. 7).

To be sure, there are sex differences in the brain, as exemplified in Dr. Verma's Penn study. Dr. Eliot also agrees that there are cognitive disparities between males and females, but she thinks that these differences are more than just biological. In her opinion, learning through "practice, role models, and reinforcement" is the most pivotal determinant of gender differences (Pink Brain, Blue Brain, p. 7). Any attempts to explain behavioral differences must consider societal influences. For example, the intra-hemisphere connectome found in males might be a product of a society that raises girls in a way that fosters empathy, interpersonal relationships, and verbal skills. Boys, on the other hand, are treated and taught in a way that produces competitiveness, mathematical prowess, and mechanical ability.

Drawing on studies such as Penn's, Dr. Eliot attempts to explain and trace the origins of cognitive gender differences. She hopes that discovering the intersection between nature and nurture will lead to innovative schooling, parenting, and a societal approach that doesn't constrain individuals on the basis of their gender.

Resources:

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/verma/

Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps--and What We Can Do about It.