At the age of 6, children are already convinced that information technology is not a subject for girls. This is what emerges from a study conducted by researchers from the universities of Houston and Washington and published in the journal of the United States Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that gender biases related to Stem subjects emerge already in elementary school and influence educational choices. future.
"The gender prejudice that Stem subjects are only for boys comes from elementary school - explained Allison Master, from the University of Houston and first author of the study - and over time they continue up to high school and so many girls make the decision not to graduate in subjects such as computer science or engineering because they feel that those subjects are not for them ".
To better analyze their origin, the researchers carried out 4 different experiments designed to identify gender and race prejudices in children. In one of the first tests, 2,200 children and adolescents were asked to assess their familiarity with a range of terms and skills related to computer and engineering disciplines and it emerged that 51% of the participants felt that girls were less interested in computer science than boys and even 63% to engineering. A second test, on other participants, instead asked to choose whether or not to do a computer activity.
The results showed that girls were significantly less interested in computing when they were told that boys were more interested in it than girls (with just 35% membership among girls) than on occasions when it was said that interest was the same (this time 65% membership among females).
These latest data, according to the researchers, indicate that "having stereotyped an activity - said Andrew Meltzoff, one of the authors of the study - has influenced the interest of children and their willingness to carry it out, the mere presence of the stereotype has influenced children in dramatic ways. A fact that makes us understand the effect of stereotypes on children and young people ".
A phenomenon that has an enormous impact on future choices and on the possibilities that open up in the future: "the current gender disparities in IT and engineering careers are worrying - he concluded - because these careers are profitable".
