By: Rebecca Grapevine, Michigan Daily
Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Study shows stereotypes hurt women's math

From the article:

When LSA sophomore Moli Yin looks around the room during one of her math classes, she sometimes doesn't see many other female faces.

Yin, who plans to major in mathematical biology, estimated that some of her math classes are about 10 percent women. There are only 83 female math majors at the University - compared to 222 men, according to math department records.

A new study co-authored by Psychology Prof. Denise Sekaquaptewa suggests that women's performance on math tests can be influenced by stereotypes that they might not even know they hold. Such stereotypes, coupled with a strong sense of gender identity, can cause female students to shy away from a math-related career.

Sekaquaptewa found that this is the case even if the students explicitly reject the stereotypes....

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To read the entire article, go to the Michigan Daily website at http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2007/02/20/Academics/Solving.The.Gender.Equation-2730241.shtml.