Why do young women say they are so often angry with math?
Anne Boye: Women are not “angry” with math! They tend to think too much that they can’t, that they won’t do it, but there is no specific female problem with math, just as there is no “girls’ math” and “boys math”. From the XVIIIe century, the French mathematician Nicolas de Condorcet asserted that both sexes are capable of the same things and that the problem came from access to education. We don’t make young girls want to do math.
However, plans for women and mathematics have multiplied in recent years. They don’t seem to change anything…
A. B. : This is true, because the weight of stereotypes and biases, often unconscious, remains very strong and transmitted from generation to generation. Society reminds young girls that math is a “boy’s thing”. Those who pursue this path too often find themselves in the minority in the courses, which can be hard to live with and discourage them.
Several studies carried out by the Hubertine Auclert center, a center in the Ile-de-France for equality between women and men, have shown that middle and high schools maintain stereotypes instead of helping to erase them. Teachers feel quite helpless in the face of this, and need to be better trained and supported. Especially since the professions of the future require mathematical and scientific knowledge. If young girls do not invest in these subjects, they will be penalized later in their careers. Not to mention society as a whole. Do we really want to build the world of tomorrow without half the brains of humanity?
You talk about science courses and high school. Has the recent reform improved the situation?
A. B. : On the contrary ! Before the reform, the proportion of girls who chose “S” (scientist) was rising, slowly of course, but we still saw progress. There we went back. The choice is asked too early, at a time in their lives when young girls do not necessarily have the courage to impose themselves.
Do they lack models?
A. B. : Above all, they lack accessible “models”. In the association, we said to ourselves at the start that we had to highlight brilliant mathematicians, but we also have to show the daily life of women scientists. We set up “Mathematics, IT… with them”, an exhibition to present 20 women scientists and their professions, to show the importance of math every day.
In France, the discipline is unfortunately too “elitist”. We see this clearly in girls from less privileged social classes and from immigration: they willingly go to study law or medicine, but not mathematics.
