女性不擅長(zhǎng)理科的十大原因(上)
《狗舍日記》上曾刊載過一個(gè)漫畫，漫畫家把兩張幾乎相同的圖片放在一起，在第一張圖中，一個(gè)男生坐在一邊，看另一個(gè)男生歪歪扭扭地在黑板上寫下一個(gè)方程式。
"Wow, you suck at math," the male says to the othermale. In the next image, a female is seen scrawlingthe exact same equation on a chalkboard. "Wow,girls suck at math," the same male onlooker states.Although humorous, the comic speaks of a pernicious view that continues to affect womenand society. Despite the continued progress with females in the workforce, there is still anotable absence of women leading math and science professions. It isn't simply men whoperpetuate the stereotype that women are not as innately inclined to these subjects—far fromit! Several studies have shown unconscious biases across the board toward women in regardto their skills in math and science. Even some well-meaning teachers are being shown to believethese stereotypes, and thus the oppression of girls—some who could very well retain the skillset to be math and science prodigies—continues as women choose more "feminine" professionsand men lead the pack when it comes to math, science, technology and engineering. Below, weare counting down the top 10 reasons you (yes, you) believe that girls are bad at math andscience. Alongside these reasons, we will be providing research studies and analyses thatdebunk these beliefs.
"哇喔，你的數(shù)學(xué)糟透了，"旁觀的男生對(duì)小伙伴說。另外一幅圖中，旁觀的男生沒變，寫方程式的是一個(gè)女生。"天哪!女生的數(shù)學(xué)糟透了!"男生如是說。盡管看起來挺幽默，這則漫畫卻影射了一個(gè)不好的觀點(diǎn)，一個(gè)持續(xù)困擾女性群體乃至整個(gè)社會(huì)的觀點(diǎn)：盡管女性在人才市場(chǎng)的情況已不斷改進(jìn)，但理科領(lǐng)域的女性領(lǐng)軍人物少之又少。長(zhǎng)期以來，男性都認(rèn)為女性根本沒有理科慧根，可原因不僅僅如此，甚至還相差很遠(yuǎn)。數(shù)項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人們的確對(duì)女性理科能力存在廣泛的偏見，甚至還有幾位好心的專家指出：即使女孩們選擇了"女性化"的職業(yè)——其中不乏一些條件不錯(cuò)，可能成為理科精英的女性，她們也還將受到這種偏見帶來的壓力，而男孩子則繼續(xù)在理科領(lǐng)域遙遙領(lǐng)先。下面，我們就列出你(沒錯(cuò)!就是你!)認(rèn)為女性不擅理科的十大原因，同時(shí)，我們會(huì)用研究和數(shù)據(jù)一一拆穿這些謬誤。
10.Bias
10.偏見
We all know that you shouldn't hire someone under bias or prejudice, and although we stillhave a long way to go, there has been significant progress in hiring processes that work toensure that discrimination is not a factor in the process. Still, with the average womancontinuing to earn less than men overall, there is still plenty of room (as in, acres and acres'worth of room) for improvement.
目前，社會(huì)招聘程序已取得顯著進(jìn)步，確保整個(gè)過程免受歧視或偏見的影響。因?yàn)槲覀冎?，招聘就不?yīng)心懷成見，盡管為達(dá)到這一目標(biāo)，我們還有很長(zhǎng)一段路要走，目前女性整體人均工資水平仍低于男性，我們的進(jìn)步空間還很大(按照目前這種速度來的話)。
Not all employers who make biased decisions while hiring actually intend to be biased in theirdecision. What if someone has an implicit or unconscious bias that is affecting theirdecisions? Sometimes even the most well-meaning of employers fall victim to theirsubconscious, and this in turn can have an impact on the people we seeing leading fields likemath and science (among others). A 2008 study placed employers in one group and "jobcandidates" of different gender in another group. The researchers gave candidates a math testwhich entailed, "…adding up sets of two-digit numbers in a 4-minute math sprint. (Theresearchers did not tell the subjects, but it is already known that men and women performequally well on this task.)" In spite of the simple math task being one that both genders couldexcel at, it was found that when employers were given a photograph of the candidate (whichwas the only information they had on the candidate), "…men were twice as likely to be hiredfor the simple math job, no matter whether it was a man or woman doing the hiring…"Moreover, the employers were given an Implicit Association Test, which revealed unconsciousbiases in regard to perceived ability for men and women in mathematical professions.
并不是所有做出帶有偏見的決定的雇主就心懷成見。如果說是他們的潛意識(shí)左右了他們呢?有時(shí)候，即使一些心懷善念的雇主都會(huì)受其影響，反過來，這也會(huì)影響我們看待理科等頂尖領(lǐng)域中所謂高知的眼光。2008年一項(xiàng)研究將雇主和應(yīng)聘者分成兩組。每位應(yīng)聘者都會(huì)做一項(xiàng)測(cè)試："4分鐘內(nèi)完成兩位數(shù)加法速算。"(當(dāng)時(shí)，雙方對(duì)這項(xiàng)研究都不知情，但大家都已知道，受測(cè)的男女表現(xiàn)不分伯仲)在這一測(cè)試中，男女的表現(xiàn)都相當(dāng)出色，但當(dāng)拿到受測(cè)對(duì)象的照片時(shí)(這是雇主僅有的關(guān)于應(yīng)聘者的唯一信息)，男性被錄取的可能性整整高出了一倍——無論雇主是男是女，同時(shí)，雇主們還做了一項(xiàng)內(nèi)隱聯(lián)想測(cè)試，測(cè)試結(jié)果也暴露了人們潛意識(shí)中對(duì)男女理科能力高下的判斷。
9.Self Fulfilling Prophecies
9.自我實(shí)現(xiàn)預(yù)期
A self-fulfilling prophecy is defined as, "Any positive or negative expectation aboutcircumstances, events, or people that may affect a person's behavior toward them in a mannerthat causes those expectations to be fulfilled…An employer who, for example, expects theemployees to be disloyal and shirkers, will likely treat them in a way that will elicit the veryresponse he or she expects."
自我實(shí)現(xiàn)預(yù)期是指人們對(duì)環(huán)境、事件、他人都會(huì)抱有的某種或好或壞的期待，這些期待會(huì)影響人們待人接物的行為，從而使這些期待變成現(xiàn)實(shí)。例如：一位雇主覺得自己的雇員是一群不忠的混吃等死之輩，那他對(duì)待雇員的方式可能讓雇員真的變成他想象中的那樣。
In the above example, we saw how bias from employers could lead to such self-fulfillingprophecies, and girls and women have been shown to unconsciously secure their fates as thosethat either shy away from math and science professions, or whose ability to perform well inthese subjects is hindered by internalization of biases. From a very young age, girls and boysare bombarded with messages about how their gender dictates certain facets of theirpersonality as well as their aspirations. Boys may strive for success in math and sciencebecause they are led to believe that their gender provides them with innate skills in thesesubjects, while girls may experience anxiety at school while being handed math and scienceprojects after being led to believe these subjects will never be their strong suit. A 2012 studypublished in Psychological Science sought to investigate the impact that entity theories(defined as the belief that innate qualities can dictate your skill set) had on children. Thestudy involved 144 children between the ages of four and seven who were all instructed to playa matching game involving 3-D block images. During the first round of the game, one of theresearchers told some of the children that the boys playing the game were more successful,while a second group was told that one of the females had excelled at the game, and a thirdgroup was given no information.
上面的例子揭露了偏見是如何影響雇主的自我實(shí)現(xiàn)預(yù)期。相應(yīng)的，女性也常無意識(shí)地選擇明哲保身：有些人遠(yuǎn)離涉及理科的領(lǐng)域，有能力駕馭這些學(xué)科也逐漸在泛濫的偏見中黯然失色。人們從小就被灌輸了大量諸如"性別決定性格"、"性別決定志向"的理論。男生決心在理科上大展拳腳，因?yàn)槿藗冋f男生生來就是學(xué)理的料，女生卻常常在接到理科項(xiàng)目時(shí)感到焦慮，因?yàn)槿诉€說，理科從來都不是女生的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)。2012年，一項(xiàng)出版在《心理科學(xué)》的實(shí)驗(yàn)試圖揭示實(shí)體理論(即天分決定技能論)對(duì)小孩的影響，實(shí)驗(yàn)對(duì)象是144名4-7歲的兒童，他們將在接受指導(dǎo)后玩一個(gè)3D圖像的連線游戲。第一輪游戲期間，一位研究員告訴第一組：男生更會(huì)玩這個(gè)游戲，告訴第二組：其中一名女生已出色完成游戲，第三組沒有任何提示。
The impact of those statements was evident in the second, more challenging round of thegame. As summarized by Slate: "The scores of those who were given the gender prompts fellby an average of 12.8 percent. By contrast, children who were told about another individualchild's success or failure stayed about the same. Scores fell 2.9 percent among the kids whoheard nothing."
這些話在更加激烈的第二輪游戲中收到可立竿見影的效果。實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果如下：第一組分?jǐn)?shù)下降12.8%，第二組分?jǐn)?shù)持平，第三組分?jǐn)?shù)下降2.9%。
8.Both Genders Believe the Stereotype
8.男性女性都相信"女性不擅理"
It isn't simply men who are perpetuating the stereotype that girls and women are bad at mathand science—many females believe it too! In our first example where employers were found tohave biases against women in regard to mathematical ability, the female employers were foundto have just as strong as a bias as the male employers. Furthermore, various STEM researchstudies have shown that "…barriers like stereotypes, gender bias, and a discouragingclassroom atmosphere can deter women from pursuing careers in these areas and may explainwhy there are so few female scientists and engineers." Another STEM research study noted, "Femininity is linked to math anxiety towards math and doing worse in math, so it may bedifficult for women to feel both feminine and confident in their math abilities."
長(zhǎng)期以來，使"女性不擅理"這一理論根深蒂固的不僅僅是男性，女性也相信這一理論。第一個(gè)例子中，雇主普遍對(duì)女性的數(shù)學(xué)能力存在偏見，其中，女雇主的成見并不比男雇主少。STEM(科學(xué)，技術(shù)，工程，數(shù)學(xué))研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，成見、性別歧視、壓抑的課堂氛圍都會(huì)使女性在面對(duì)理科職業(yè)時(shí)望而卻步，這也是女性科學(xué)家、女工程師如此之少的原因。還有STEM調(diào)查表明，女性特征與數(shù)學(xué)焦慮、不擅數(shù)學(xué)息息相關(guān)，所以讓一個(gè)散發(fā)著女性光輝的女生對(duì)數(shù)學(xué)充滿信心是相當(dāng)困難的。
7.Ability Varies by Country
7.在不同國(guó)家，女性理工科的能力千差萬別
When it comes to a nature versus nurture argument regarding females and their abilitieswithin math and science, nurture would reign supreme according to recent studies. Accordingto the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, "…15-year-old girls around theworld, outperform boys in science – except for in the United States, Britain and Canada."
研究發(fā)現(xiàn)：在男女理科能力的種族大比拼中，后天培養(yǎng)起著主導(dǎo)作用。據(jù)經(jīng)濟(jì)合作和發(fā)展組織稱，除了美國(guó)、英國(guó)和加拿大之外，其他國(guó)家和地區(qū)中十五歲左右的女性都會(huì)在理科上表現(xiàn)得比男性更出色。
Further research showed that, "…countries with the poorest degrees of gender equality also havethe widest gulfs between male and female mathematical performance." Conversely, the USDepartment of Education found that girls, "…who have a strong self-concept regarding theirabilities in math or science are more likely to choose and perform well in elective math andscience courses and to select math and science-related college majors and careers." None ofthis evidence is surprising, but it is disconcerting to think that girls and women who wouldotherwise be excelling in math and science and who may also have potential to expound uponthese talents with successful—and profitable—careers within the field are pursuing differenttrajectories due to the biases against them.
調(diào)查還發(fā)現(xiàn)：一個(gè)國(guó)家，男女越平等，男女間數(shù)學(xué)能力上的差距越小。而美國(guó)教育部卻發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)不同的結(jié)果：那些對(duì)自己工科能力具有強(qiáng)烈認(rèn)知的女性會(huì)在工科選修課上表現(xiàn)出色。同時(shí)，她們也會(huì)更偏向于選擇在大學(xué)進(jìn)修理工類相關(guān)專業(yè)，畢業(yè)后從事理工類相關(guān)工作。上述的調(diào)查結(jié)果并不令人驚訝，令人驚訝的是：那些本可以在理工科游刃有余的姑娘們，那些本可以在理工類職業(yè)中揚(yáng)名立萬的姑娘們，為何就因?yàn)樯鐣?huì)偏見而選擇了其他職業(yè)呢?
6.Women Choose "Love" Over Math and Science
6.感性勝于理性
On an unconscious level, some women feel that pursuing careers in math and science willmake them less romantically desirable. During middle and high school years, girls—particularlyheterosexual girls—are liable to conform to what society purports to be "attractive" and"desirable" to the opposite sex. Girls are taught to be delicately feminine while boys aretaught to be brawny and masculine.
女性在潛意識(shí)里認(rèn)為追求理科學(xué)位會(huì)令自己缺乏浪漫因子。進(jìn)入中學(xué)的姑娘們——特指直女——開始遵循社會(huì)對(duì)女性的要求，變得"具有吸引力"和"令人覺得性感"，女孩就應(yīng)該變得優(yōu)雅有女人味，如同男孩就應(yīng)該健壯有男人味。
In 2011, Psychology Today made note of different studies that showed women believed menwould find them less desirable if they pursued mathematics or science careers and that womenalso cared about math less when having "romance on the mind." "In one study, male andfemale undergraduates saw images related to either romance (romantic restaurants, beachsunsets, lit candles) or intelligence (eyeglasses, libraries, books), in order to get the studentsthinking about their romantic or achievement-related goals. Later, they rated their interestin math, technology, science and engineering. The researchers found that among men, interestin these subjects was not influenced by the images they had seen. But among women, thosewho viewed romantic images expressed far less interest in math and science. (Interestingly,women who viewed intelligence images expressed the same level of interest as the men!)"Psychology Today went on to note the implications these types of stereotypes have for men aswell, i.e., just as women may shy away from careers that are perceived as "masculine", menmay shy away from careers that are perceived as "feminine", such as those within teaching,counseling and the arts.
在2011年《今日心理學(xué)》曾指出，各類研究表明女性普遍認(rèn)為：工科女性缺少男人緣，而滿腦子桃色念頭的女生也的確不太關(guān)心理工學(xué)科的內(nèi)容。"在一個(gè)高校學(xué)生的文理職業(yè)理想，研究人員先讓他們分別觀察感性圖片(如浪漫的餐廳、黃昏的沙灘、燃燒的燭光)和理性圖片(如眼鏡、圖書館、書籍)，然后開始測(cè)試學(xué)生對(duì)數(shù)學(xué)、技術(shù)類學(xué)科、工程學(xué)的興趣度。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，男生感興趣的學(xué)科并不受所看圖片的影響。但在女生當(dāng)中，觀察感性圖片的人則對(duì)數(shù)學(xué)和科學(xué)很不感冒。(有意思的是，觀察理性圖片的女生對(duì)理工類學(xué)科的興趣度與男生是一樣!)"《今日心理學(xué)》后來又指出，此類刻板印象對(duì)男性也具有影響。也就是說，就像女性怕被喊成"女漢子"而怯于去獲取更多學(xué)位，男性同樣怕被視為很"娘"而不愿意去取得諸如教育、咨詢或藝術(shù)相關(guān)的學(xué)位。
