Do you really know why men outnumber women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields? First, and paradoxically, according to a recent study, the more gender-equal a society is, the fewer women are seeking careers in STEM. In other words, the more a country is egalitarian, the more women tend to choose the humanities, which involve more verbal and fewer math skills. Yet, there is nothing inherent about this fact. The widespread stereotype according to which genes and hormones (a.k.a biology) are key, is just code for keeping a toxic status quo.
Of course, girls and boys, women and men, are very different biologically. Yet, biology alone is not a sufficient reason to justify gender inequality and not enough to explain complex gender differences and why male and female students may prefer words over numbers, for example. Pretending that physical or mental traits or preferences are inherent, innate, inborn or genetic is inaccurate, or at the least incomplete. It's undeniable that genes play an important role in both physical and intellectual human development, but this development is also powerfully influenced by our environment and experiences. Especially the earliest ones.
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Bring Your Child to Work Day teaches kids about science, technology (Wikimedia Commons)
