OUR ACCIDENTAL BIAS
He meant well.
But Heidi Tuszkiewicz’s high school physics teacher was doing her no favors when he suggested that she reconsider taking his notoriously tough course during her junior year.
Tuszkiewicz was a star athlete, college-bound as a gifted long-distance runner. The teacher held a belief that athletes had a more difficult time passing his class, as that commitment means less time studying and regular trips off campus on school days.
Did her gender also play a role in his suggestion? Did this teacher offer this same advice to male athletes who wanted to take his class?
None of that mattered to Tuskiewicz, who instead of folding and settling for easier grades, took her teacher’s doubt as a challenge. She excelled both in physics and on the track. Today, she’s a freshman on Campbell’s track and field and cross country teams. In the fall, she’ll be among the first class to declare engineering as a major in Campbell’s new School of Engineering.
“I wanted to prove [my teacher] wrong. I went out of my way to meet with him regularly and catch up when I did have to miss a class,” says the Ontario, Canada native. “He became one of my favorite teachers in the end, but I had to work harder to prove to him that I’m not just an athlete. I’m a student, too.”
Research shows that not every young woman responds to lack of confidence or support from a teacher or somebody in an authoritative role the way Tuskiewicz did. For far too many, that doubt in their abilities is enough to persuade them to choose another goal, area of study or career path.
As an athlete and as a woman, Tuskiewicz was a victim of implicit bias — an attitude or stereotype that affects one’s understanding, actions or decisions in an unconscious manner. Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, which publishes an annual review of the subject, says implicit biases are different
from known biases individuals may choose to conceal for political or social correctness. “The implicit associations we harbor in our subconscious cause us to have feelings and attitudes about other people based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, age and appearance,” the Institute states in its most recent report. “These associations develop over the course of a lifetime beginning at a very early age through exposure to direct and indirect messages.”
Few teachers will admit to others (or even themselves) that they treat boys and girls differently in the classroom. A 2015 study by two professors for the National Bureau of Economic Research in Massachusetts is one of many that prove otherwise. Their study “Short and Long Term Consequences of Teachers’ Stereotypical Biases” shows that while girls often score higher than boys on name-blind math tests, once presented with recognizable names on the same tests, teachers tend to award higher scores to boys. This bias, according to the study, has long-term effects on girls’ ambitions and their occupational choices down the line.
“We’re not aware we’re doing it. That’s what makes it so damaging,” Carpenter says in her TED Talk. “We’re acting in many ways opposite of our intended values.”
Carpenter says by the time many girls reach high school or college, they suffer from an “accumulation of disadvantage,” and she explains this phrase with an analogy. Car A is going just one foot an hour faster than Car B, which in the short term (one hour), doesn’t give Car A much of an advantage. But after 10 hours, that distance starts to grow. After 10 weeks, that distance is considerable. After 10 years …
“This continual stream of micro-ineptities, or micro-insults … they’re things that by themselves may not seem like a big deal,” Carpenter says. “But collectively, over a career or over a lifetime, they can add up to a lot.”
The implicit bias doesn’t end at high school or college graduation. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that STEM professors were less likely to hire a fictional candidate named Jennifer for a lab manager position than one named John, even though the applications were identical. They also offered “John” more money.
Christianne Corbett, co-author of the 2010 report, “Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math,” told The New York Times in 2012 that gender roles in occupations are shaped in childhood as early as age 4. Also around this age, students begin to develop either a “fixed mindset” or a “growth mindset” when it comes to viewing intelligence. In her report, Corbett pulled in research by Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, who found that those with a growth mindset (those who viewed intelligence as something that can be developed through effort) were more likely
to persevere in the face of adversity than those with a fixed mindset (those who view intelligence as an inborn, uncontrollable trait).
“When girls and women believe they have a fixed amount of intelligence, they are more likely to believe the stereotype, lose confidence, and disengage from STEM
as a potential career when they encounter difficulties in their coursework,” Corbett wrote in her report. “The messages we send girls about the nature of intelligence matter. The more girls and women believe that they can learn what they need to be successful in STEM fields [as opposed to being “gifted”], the more likely they are to actually be successful in STEM fields.”
“Maybe women just don’t want to get things wrong. They don’t want to walk around being a B-minus student in something. They want to find something they can be an A student in. They want something where the professor will pat them on the back and say ‘You’re doing so well!’
“Guys don’t seem to give two damns.”
Teachers, parents, role models — take heed, says Carpenter. She advises parents, particularly fathers, of young girls, to raise their children to have a growth mindset. Encourage them to think their problems through and support their interests, even if they don’t fit into a stereotypical gender role. For teachers, Carpenter suggests keeping track of the number of times they call on boys in the class versus girls and to keep a balance. Develop phrases such as, “Let’s think about that,” and watch body language when dealing with students.
“You simply want kids to feel free to be who they are or who they want to be,” Carpenter says. “If you have a girl who’s interested in engineering, she needs to be supported and encouraged. Instilling this in them at a young age, it makes a world of difference.