Hear the latest science related to female brain development, including the role of genes, hormones, and environmental influences, and how social factors are proving to be far more powerful than popularly conceived. Learn concrete ways educators can help females and rein in harmful stereotypes. As a parent of two sons and one daughter, she understands the difficulty of confronting gender expectations and the value of doing so.
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(PowerPoint)
(Hyde gender similarities (sept05).pdf)
(Else-Quest, Hyde and Linn (2010) international gender gap in math has closed.pdf)
(OECD (2009) gender diff similarities in 15-year-old.pdf)
(Beilock, Levine et al (2010 PNAS) teachers math anxiety affects girls achievement.pdf)
(Feingold and Mazzella (1998) gender diffs in body image are increasing.pdf)

(Center for American Progress)
It’s no longer breaking news this Equal Pay Day that women are a crucial part of today’s workforce. Women edged up to just 50 percent of workers on U.S. payrolls for the first time in October 2009, and two-thirds of American families with children now rely on a woman’s earnings for a significant portion of their family’s income.
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(Committee on Science and Technology)
Today, the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Research and Science Education Subcommittee held a hearing to examine current research findings, best practices, and the role of federal agencies in increasing the interest of girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in primary and secondary school. Members questioned witnesses about the challenges that deter young women from pursuing post-secondary STEM degrees.
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(Minnesota's MinnPost.com, Selix)
Minnesota's MinnPost.com website reported that "a Miami University team of researchers found that girls may avoid STEM careers because they are 'perceived as less likely than careers in other fields to fulfill communal goals (e.g., working with or helping other people),' according to the abstract in Psychological Science, the journal of the Association for Psychological Science." Psychologist Amanda Diekman, who led the research, said, "We found that STEM careers, relative to other careers, were perceived to impede communal goals." The researchers "took surveys of 333 introductory psych students, 193 of whom were women," and "asked about their career interests, their abilities in different academic areas, and the importance they place on certain personal objectives." The more strongly respondents approved of "helping others, serving humanity, intimacy, spirituality," the "less likely the participant was interested in a STEM career."
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(Sharon Weatherall, Free Press)
U.S. native chemical engineer Dr. Nancy Jackson, told Beausoleil First Nation students that, because of her people's strong relationship to the Earth, she wanted to "work in technologies that would not damage the environment." Jackson, who spoke at a recent symposium manages the International Chemical Threat Reduction Department in Sandia National Laboratories. A highlight of her career was when Jackson was presented with an award for overall leadership and technical achievement. During her acceptance speech she warned young Native Americans to protect their lands from exploitation for energy resources. She wants this passion for protecting the Earth passed on to future generation and says "it is important that Indians take the lead."
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(Summary from 6/9/10 ACTE Career Tech Update)
In an opinion article for Forbes, Jennifer Hunt explores the idea that women are "exiting from science and engineering disproportionately," and asks if this is the case, "is this exodus simply a hallmark of male-dominated fields in general, or is it specific to science and engineering?" Hunt notes the "importance of comparing science and engineering with other fields," particularly if those fields share common factors such as long or nontraditional work hours, so as to better determine if "explanations related to the specific technical nature of science and engineering work can be eliminated." Hunt concludes "explanations hinging on the precise nature of engineering work should be discarded," and "instead, remedies should be applied to all fields with a high share of male workers."
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(Aimee Miles, Palo Alto Online)
Silicon Valley is a beacon of hope for entrepreneurs. But with women-founded, venture-backed startups accounting for just 8 percent of the total, it's clear that women in the valley's high-tech sector who channel that potential into high-growth, scalable companies are statistically the exception, not the rule. That trend has recently begun to correct itself.
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(Eric A. Clayton, District Administration)
With oil continuing to spill into the Gulf of Mexico...it's time to begin grappling with the necessary question that legislators, bureaucrats and everyday citizens must now address: How do we prevent this kind of disaster from happening again? There are strategies and proposals being presented by engineers, technicians and other experts throughout the world, but the most sustainable and forward-thinking answer may lie elsewhere-in education. It is within the academic realm of STEM, often touted as the Achilles' heel of the U.S. educational system, that the foundations for future disaster-aversion could be built.
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