Girsl can do maths - if society would only let them, says an education expert

Australian Science and Mathematics School students Emily Taylor, Nicole Paul
and Helen Woo play a maths version of the game Celebrity Heads.

DEEPLY ingrained cultural stereotypes about what girls can do continues to stop them studying high-level maths and physical sciences, a leading educator says.

Australian Science and Maths School principal Susan Hyde said many people still expected boys to do better in maths than girls.

She said this, coupled with the "fixed mindset" approach - which was that most people, including many teachers, believe that an individual can either "do maths" or not - worked to discourage girls from learning maths to a high level.

"Firstly, they get subtle messages from teachers, parents, friends, toymakers, the media, that they may not be able to learn hard maths and are not expected to do as well as boys," she said.

"Over time they start to dissociate themselves as learners of maths, thinking it is too hard, not their bag, and it is OK not to do well and it may not be worth the effort anyway.

"As they drop the higher-level maths, they are then locked out of the physical sciences, engineering and the like."

A recent US study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology stated that the gender stereotype in maths may lead women to feel less like accepted members of the maths community and therefore to have a lower sense of belonging, which influences women's representation in study and industry.

It found that the more the participants reported feeling a sense of belonging in maths, the more they reported an intention to pursue it in the future.

- adelaidenow.com