Ever since we were little we learned and heard about the heroic accomplishments of many scientists, activists and public figures who have influenced on all of us in some way.
Martin Luther King– what a spokesman he was, Einstein and his accomplishments in physics and math, all of those presidents improving our lives in the State.
However, have you ever had the time to consider that all of these role models and influential people are actually men? In all fairness women had smaller roles back in time, however why do we still allow this pattern to stay the same?
Why it only comes natural for us to have men ruling the world and women sitting at home and wondering what if?
There’s no doubt that girls can be as smart as boys. Intelligence is not something that you’re born with or it’s an innate thing, it’s something that you work on, develop and nurture it constantly.
Assuming that boys are smarter than girls just because they are boys seems ridiculous at this point, but believe it or not, girls as young as six years old are lead to believe in the superiority of men.
According to the university researchers:
- young boys and girls at the age of 5, believe that both boys and girl are equally smart and intelligent.
- young boys and girls at the age of 6 and further in the education tend to believe that boys are likely to be smarter than girls.
- further in life, it’s only normal for girls to be less ambitious or have fewer career goals in life.
- on the other hand, boys will pursue ambitious careers and achieve better results simply because they were made to believe in that.
- both boys and girls should be encouraged and praised for their hard work, their achievements and efforts, not for the supposition that they are simply born with a gift of being intelligent or simply being boys.
Even though there have been plenty of efforts in the past and even nowadays, to prevent such assumptions or prevent gender discrimination, according to the research even though many girls won’t feel inferior to boys, the majority will feel that way in the future.
So why after so many years of struggling with this issue, we make little girls believe that boys are predestined to succeed in life even more than girls will ever succeed?
Extremely debatable and troubling topic and many things may clear up, thanks to the findings of the research.
More on the Study
The study was conducted by the researchers from three universities and involved millions of children from the elementary schools of Illinois.
The experiments included pictures of woman and man which were shown to the kids and they had to answer to the question of who looked “really, really smart” and identify that person from the pictures.
Furthermore, the children had to choose between two games. One game was for the ones who are “really, really smart” and the other game was for the ones who “work really hard”. Their answers were being marked and noted during the experiments.
The results may have been expected or they may come as a shocker, either way, it doesn’t seem bright for the ladies.
Young boys and girls at the age of 5, who participated in the experiment, were choosing both man and woman from the picture which purpose was to present the “really, really smart” ones.
Those kids were also equally choosing the game for the ones who are “really, really smart” as opposed to the one for the ones who “work really hard”.
However, older kids or the ones from six years old and on, were generally assuming that the man on the picture looks “really, really smart” as opposed to the woman next to him.
The girls also failed in choosing the game for the “really, really smart” ones and just settled for the ones who “work really hard”.
Why did the results come out the way they did?
Well, it seems that this isn’t a surprising fact, especially if we bear in mind that even in the 21st century we struggle with gender equality and discrimination.
In a society like this, it’s only normal for girls to assume that they should leave the “really, really smart” stuff to the boys and settle for the mediocre instead.
There is no actual clue or research that had shown that boys do have innate intelligence. On the contrary, what we can say is that girls score much huger during their education, they have better grades and they even complete college education at higher rates than man.
So, bearing in mind that girls can also achieve as much as boys can, or even more, why do we keep pushing them down?
One explanation may be that many public figures or role models are actually men. Moreover, most of the historical people they learn about at school are also men.
So, girls are made to believe that men have the superiority, intellectual and physical, and they just settle for mediocre careers or stay at home and look after the family, like God intended them to be, right?
Wow, this is so infuriating, especially if you take into consideration that no scientific evidence proves about the intellectual superiority of men. So, it’s not just the school, in many households families tend to see their son as the “really, really smart” kid as opposed to their daughters.
I’m sure you’ve heard all of those questions during a pregnancy “Is it a boy? Is it a boy?”- So, what if it’s a boy or a girl, isn’t the health of the baby that really matter or maybe it’s the gender?
Another study, reveals that many woman may feel inferior to men in the STEM fields due to the fact that they are maybe made to believe that the courses are too difficult for them.
What can we do to change this pattern?
Well, there are many things we can do, starting from the home and finishing with education and society. Maybe incorporating female role models in various ways is a great idea. Seeing all of those successful women in any field may be a great boost for women’s confidence in their ability to reach the stars.
However, the most important thing that one can do is not separate boys and girls for their innate gifts such as innate intelligence, but instead focus on their ability to solve problems and efforts in life.
Praising girls and boys at an early age for their achievements and hard work may be the healthiest way to naturally boost both women’s and men’s confidence.
Please Share with your friends and family.
Sources:
https://www.inc.com/
https://internal.psychology.illinois.edu
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
