Supporting Female Students in the Classroom
by Reagan Middlebrook
What We're Going to Talk About
Not Helping:
What We Actually Need
- Technical Skills and Knowledge
- Confidence
- Opportunities
- Fairness
"It is very difficult to feel that I am the only one in the lab who doesn't know how to use equipment or how to solve some mechanical problem."
Intimidation
and
Impostor Syndrome
How You Can Help
-
Lab orientations
-
Reinforce that questions are expected
-
Raised hands
-
Call on students
"[The professor] used 'she' only once, to refer to a kindergarten teacher."
What's the big deal, though?
Stereotype Threat:
being reminded of a negative stereotype about your group makes you more likely to confirm it
Example
Spatial Reasoning Tests
Spatial Reasoning Tests
How can you help?
"It's important to keep in mind that if you are feeling anxious while taking this test, this anxiety could be the result of these negative stereotypes that are widely known in society and have nothing to do with your actual ability to do well on the test.”
Here's where things get tricky...
Unconscious Bias:
when the human tendency towards categorization unconsciously leads to prejudiced behavior and judgments
"A lot of the hurdles aren't visible from where I'm standing."
Gather data
Gather data
-
Grades by gender
-
Blind grading
-
Email response rates
-
Recommendation letter vocabulary
"You can't live in a room where everyone's slinging mud and not get some on you."
Question your assumptions
Conclusion
This is not a problem with an easy solution.
Thank you for listening,
and for
wanting to help
Links to Selected Sources
- "High-achieving men and women are described differently in reviews"
- "The Myth of the Ideal Worker"
- "The existence of implicit bias is beyond reasonable doubt"
- "A Linguistic Comparison of Letters of Recommendation for Male and Female Chemistry and Biochemistry Job Applicants"
- "The Paradox of Meritocracy in Organizations"
- "Effects of self-perceived objectivity on hiring discrimination"
- "Gender Bias and Its Cumulative Effect on Careers and Organizations"
Links to Selected Sources
- "Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans"
- "Male Priming Boosts Spatial Skills in Women"
- "Identity salience and shifts in quantitative performance"
- "Teaching Stereotype Threat as a Means of Improving Women's Math Performance"
- "The Challenge of Stereotype Threat for the Testing Community"
- "Picture yourself as a stereotypical male"
- Project Implicit
Supporting Female Students in the Classroom by Reagan Middlebrook