Shortchanging Girls Shortchanging America Executive Summary
Shortchanging Girls Shortchanging America Executive Summary
Shortchanging Girls Shortchanging America Executive Summary
Shortchanging America
Executive Summary
A nationwide poll that assesses self-esteem, educational
experiences, interest in math and science, and career
aspirations of girls and boys ages 915
Commissioned by the
American Association of University Women
Researched by Greenberg-Lake:
The Analysis Group
Project advisers:
For their invaluable work on this project, we thank:
Carol Gilligan, Harvard University; author, In a Different Voice; co-author, Meeting at the Crossroads:
Womens Psychology and Girls Development
Nancy Goldberger, psychology faculty, the Fielding Institute; co-author, Womens Ways of Knowing: The
Development of Self, Voice and Mind
Janie Victoria Ward, assistant professor of education and human services, Simmons College
Shortchanging Girls,
Shortchanging America
Executive Summary
A nationwide poll that assesses self-esteem, educational
experiences, interest in math and science, and career
aspirations of girls and boys ages 915
Commissioned by the
American Association of University Women
Researched by Greenberg-Lake:
The Analysis Group
Published by the
American Association of University Women
1111 Sixteenth Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-4873
202/785-7700
Copyright 1991, 1994
American Association of University Women
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States
First Printing: January 1991 (20,500 copies)
Second Printing: August 1994 (10,000 copies)
Cover art by Thorina Rose
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America: executive summary: a nationwide poll that assesses self-esteem,
educational experiences, interest in math and science, and career aspirations of girls and boys ages 915/
commissioned by the American Association of University Women; researched by Greenberg-Lake: the Analysis Group.
2nd ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-879922-02-9: $8.95
1. Sex discrimination in educationUnited States. 2. Self-esteem in womenUnited States. 3. Self-esteem in
childrenUnited States. 4. Women in mathematicsUnited States. 5. Women in scienceUnited States.
6. WomenEducationUnited States. 7. Vocational interestsUnited States. 8. Educational equalizationUnited
States. 9. Educational surveysUnited States.
I. American Association of University Women. II. Greenberg-Lake: the Analysis Group.
LC212.82.S56 1994
370.19345--dc20
94-27744
CIP
T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
The Polls Significance ................................................ 4
3
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
T HE P OLL S S IGNIFICANCE
his is a summary of the poll that awakened the nation to the effects of gender bias in Americas schools. Commissioned by the American Association
of University Women and conducted by Greenberg-Lake: The Analysis
Group, Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America was the first national survey to
link the sharp drop in self-esteem suffered by pre-adolescent and adolescent American girls to what they learn in the classroom. Publication of the poll in 1991 shook
Americas consciousness and has had a far-reaching impact.
Thanks to the poll and such subsequent studies as the AAUW Educational
Foundations The AAUW Report: How Schools Shortchange Girls, which synthesized
more than 1,300 published studies on girls in school, equity for girls has earned
a firm place on the nations education reform agenda. Educators and community
leaders have discussed the problem of gender bias in open forums and are now
working in communities across the nation to change the future for girls in school.
Outstanding teachers have received fellowships from the AAUW Educational
Foundations Eleanor Roosevelt Fund to explore new teaching methods that bolster girls self-confidence and enhance their learning. And in 1994 the U.S. Senate heard testimony on proposed legislation to promote equal education for girls
in Americas public schools.
By 1994 concern sparked by the poll and later research helped spawn a heightened sensitivity to the needs of girls. The Ms. Foundation credits AAUW, Carol
Gilligan, and others for helping to inspire its national Take Our Daughters to Work
Day. Peggy Orensteins powerful book Schoolgirls, excerpted in the New York Times
Magazine and Glamour magazine, grew directly out of the AAUW poll. Gender equity provisions written into Goals 2000: Educate America, the federal education reform act passed in 1994, likewise were influenced by AAUWs seminal
research.
The new awareness comes not a minute too soon. For the 23 million schoolgirls in grades K12 of our nations classrooms, change is clearly overdue. In an
increasingly technological society, we can no longer afford to let our schools sideline
girls and discourage their achievement.
For what happens to girls in school is cause for grave concern. Girls begin
first grade with comparable skills and ambition to boys, but by the time girls fin-
4
SHORTCHANGING
GIRLS,
SHORTCHANGING
AMERICA
ish high school, most have suffered a disproportionate loss of confidence in their
academic abilities.
Popular culture helps deflate girls self-esteem by marginalizing women and
stereotyping their roles. Unintentionally, schools collude in the process by systematically cheating girls of classroom attention, by stressing competitiverather
than cooperativelearning, by presenting texts and lessons devoid of women as
role models, and by reinforcing negative stereotypes about girls abilities. Unconsciously, teachers and school counselors also dampen girls aspirations, particularly in math and science.
Is it any wonder that many girls consequently become women who aim lower
and achieve less than they should? Our entire society loses the contributions they
might have made if only theyd been encouraged to expand their horizons. We
also jeopardize girls ability to grow into responsible citizens and parents with the
skills to challenge and nurture their own children.
Changing this pattern is not just a matter of fairness but one of economic
urgency. By the year 2005, women will make up 48 percent of the nations work
force. If we continue to compromise the education of half our work force, America
will lose its competitive edge. The equation is that simple.
Girls low self-esteem and consequently lower aspirations are problems that
schools canand musthelp solve. And if we are to meet the pressing need for
an increasingly skilled work force, we must solve the problem now. For more than
a century, the American Association of University Women has worked to promote
equity and education for women and girls. Today, through the energy and commitment of its 150,000 members nationwide, AAUW is working with teachers,
principals, parents, and community organizations to eliminate gender bias in the
classroom.
The effort began early in 1990, when AAUW commissioned an extensive examination of the comparative self-esteem levels, career aspirations, educational
experiences, and math/science interests of American girls and boys. That fall the
Greenberg-Lake research firm interviewed nearly 3,000 girls and boys ages 9 to
15 of varied racial and ethnic backgrounds to explore the impact of gender on
their self-confidence, academic interests, and career goals. Those findings are presented in summary here.
5
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
6
SHORTCHANGING
GIRLS,
SHORTCHANGING
AMERICA
S URVEY S UMMARY
much less confidence about themselves and
As girls and boys grow older, both experience
their abilities. Sixty percent of elementary
a significant loss of self-esteem in a variety of
school girls say they are happy the way I
areas. However, the loss is most dramatic and
am, a core measure of personal self-esteem.
has the most long-lasting effect for girls. The
More boys, 67 percent of those surveyed,
summary presents key findings about self-esalso strongly agreed with the statement.
teem levels in adolescents, about the effects of
Over the next eight years,
young peoples declining sense of
I
M
H
APPPY
THE
W
AY
I
A
M
girls self-esteem falls 31 perself on their actions and abilities,
P E R C E N T A LWAY S T R U E
centage points, with only 29
and about institutional influences
100%
percent of high school girls
on adolescents lives. These find90%
Girls Boys
describing the statement Im
ings represent the beginning of an
80%
67%
happy the way I am as always
understanding of the complex
70%
60%
56%
60%
true. Almost half of the high
relationship between adolescent
46%
50%
school boys (46 percent) retain
self-image and careers, the differ37%
40%
their high self-esteem. Thus
ences in that relationship due to
29%
30%
the gender gap has grown from
gender, and the impact of math
20%
7 points to 17 points.
and science on self-esteem and
10%
career aspirations.
0%
Elementary
Middle
High School
Graph A shows girls and
Graph A
boys experiencing a loss of
A gender gap in self-esteem
self-esteem as they grow
increases with age.
older, with adolescent girls
S
E
L
F
E
S
T
E
E
M
I
N
D
E
X
showing a dramatically
The adolescent years, marked
7
greater loss. The sharpest
by dramatic changes and condrops in self-esteem occur in
6
tradictions, strongly affect the
Girls Boys
the years between elementary
self-esteem of both girls and
4.99
5
4.68
4.65
school and middle school.
boys. However, the survey finds
3.93
4
dramatic differences in levels
2.80
2.77
The drop in self-esteem
and trends in esteem between
3
during the adolescent years
girls and boys, with more boys
2
and the accelerating and widthan girls entering adolescence
1
ening gap in self-esteem bewith high self-esteem and many
tween girls and boys is most
more young men than young
0
Elementary
Middle
High School
clearly presented by calculatwomen leaving adolescence with
Graph B
ing a Self-Esteem Index
high self-esteem.
from the five tested measures of basic individual self-esteem: I like the way I look,
Girls aged eight and nine are confident,
I like most things about myself, Im
assertive, and feel authoritative about themhappy the way I am, Sometimes I dont
selves. Yet most emerge from adolescence
like myself that much, and I wish I were
with a poor self-image, constrained views of
somebody else. See Graph B.
their future and their place in society, and
7
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Adolescent girls
are more likely
than boys to
have their
declining sense
of themselves
inhibit their
actions and
abilities. This
difference
grows more
8
SHORTCHANGING
GIRLS,
SHORTCHANGING
AMERICA
Finally, self-esteem is
Hispanic girls are much
I M G OOD AT A L OT OF T HINGS
critically related to young
less confident and positive
P E R C E N T A LWAY S T R U E
peoples dreams and sucthan black girls and go
80%
cesses. The higher self-esteem
through a crisis in some ways
70%
Girls Boys
of adolescent boys translates
even more profound than
60%
55%
into bigger career dreams.
that of white girls. While His50%
46%
45%
Boys start out at a higher level
panic girls start with signifi42%
40%
than do girls when it comes
cantly higher levels of
29%
30%
to their career aspirations.
self-esteem than white girls,
23%
20%
The number of boys who astheir confidence plummets in
pire to glamorous occupatheir appearance, family rela10%
tions (rock star, sports star) is
tionships, school ability, tal0%
Elementary
Middle
High School
greater than that of girls at events, and importance.
Graph D
ery stage of adolescence, creBetween elementary school
ating a kind of glamour gap.
and high school, their perFurther, boys are slightly more likely than
sonal self-esteem drops 38 points, more
are girls to believe their own career dreams
than the drop for any other group of girls.
will come true.
Finding it difficult to dream and feeling constrained by gender rules, girls start
out with lower hopes for their careers, and
are already less confident in their talents
and abilities. Girls are much more likely
than boys to say they are not smart
enough or not good enough for their
dream careers.
Popular literature suggests that peers dominate the world of teenagers. In fact, the
survey finds that several other factors, especially adults and the adult institutions of
family and school, have a greater impact on
adolescents self-esteem and aspirations.
There are important interactions between race and trends in self-esteem. Black
A factor analysis probe of self-esteem
girls express high levels of self-esteem from
shows that a feeling of acceptance by peers
elementary school through high school.
ranks well below academic confidence and
While family and community reinforcement
a feeling of importance within the family as
sustain high levels of personal importance
a dimension of adolescent self-image.*
for black girls,
these girls feel
*Factor analysis is a
Girls Self-Esteem by Race and Grade
strong pressure
statistical technique
Happy the Way I Am
that looks at the
from the school
Percent Always True
underlying dimensystem and experisions in attitudes
Elem. Middle H.S. Change
All
ence a significant
across a number of
White Girls
55
29
22
-33
34
drop in positive
questions, and at the
Black
Girls
65
59
58
-7
60
relationships and
feelings about their
relative importance of
Hispanic Girls
68
54
30
-38
52
teachers and their
those dimensions.
schoolwork.
9
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
100%
90%
80%
81%
70%
60%
50%
40%
For elementary school girls, in fact, academic self-esteem is the most important
aspect of self-esteem; yet, it is for them already a negative force. Fewer than half the
girls in elementary school (49 percent) say
they feel pride in their schoolwork, and that
percentage drops 32 points to 17 percent
in high school. (The percentage of boys who are proud of
L I K E M A TH
BY GRADE AND GENDER
their schoolwork also drops
between elementary and high
Girls Boys
84%
school, from 53 percent to 16
percentbut academic pride
72%
68% 70%
61%
plays a much smaller role in
the structure of boys self-esteem.)
30%
20%
10%
0%
Elementary
Middle
High School
Graph E
Thus, teachers have a special opportunity to affect the self-esteem of their female
students, and, by instilling confidence, to
shape their interests and aspirations.
1 0
SHORTCHANGING
GIRLS,
SHORTCHANGING
AMERICA
helps erode their enjoyment of math. Adolescent boys, at all grade levels, are much
more confident than young girls about their
abilities in math. Half of all elementary
school boys, but only one-third of all elementary school girls, say they are good at
math. By high school, one in four males, but
only one in seven females,
still says that he or she is
G I R L S A N D M AT H
L I K E M AT H V S . G O O D AT M AT H
good at math.
100%
90%
84 percent of elementary
school boys like math. By
high school this percentage drops too, but less
than it does for girls, to
72 percent.
80%
Like Math
81%
Good at Math
68%
70%
61%
60%
50%
40%
31%
30%
18%
20%
15%
10%
Pluralities of elementary
school girls (24 percent)
and boys (32 percent)
name math as their favorite subject. By high
school, these percentages
decline to 12 percent and
23 percent.
0%
Elementary
Middle
High School
Graph G
B O Y S A N D M AT H
L I K E M AT H V S . G O O D AT M AT H
100%
90%
84%
Like Math
Good at Math
80%
72%
70%
70%
60%
Conversely, the percent49%
50%
age of girls who name
40%
math as their least favor30%
ite subject jumps from 15
20%
percent in elementary
10%
school to 28 percent in
0%
Elementary
high school. The percentage of boys who like math
least jumps from 9 percent to 21
percent.
31%
25%
Middle
High School
Graph H
1 1
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
circular
relationship
between
enjoyment of
math and
science and
self-esteem.
Students who
like math and
science possess
The school system provides the most important place to make a positive impact
on the self-esteem of adolescents, as well
as on their career preferences. The relationships between math and science,
self-esteem, and career preferences provide an important example of the kind
of difference schools can make. Because
of the differences in the ways adolescent
girls and boys think about math and science, the influence of teachers on young
women and their self-esteem and careers
is particularly strong.
Adolescents who say they
like math and science are
more likely to prefer careers in
occupations that they believe
make use of these subjects. By
small margins, students who
like math and science express
stronger desires for careers as
teachers, doctors, and scientists.
Even more important,
students who like math and
science are more likely to as-
There is a
significantly
greater
self-esteem;
students with
higher self-
80%
70%
Like
Dont Like
60%
50%
40%
48%
48%
35%
35%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Math
Science
Graph I
1 2
SHORTCHANGING
GIRLS,
SHORTCHANGING
AMERICA
Finally, all adolescents see large differences between the sexes, and these differences increase the tensions and
contradictions for girls as they get older.
Gender stereotypes are still a major force
in shaping the career expectations of
young people. Girls are much more likely
than boys to want to be homemakers
(+32 percent), teachers (+33 percent),
and nurses (+35 percent). Adolescent
boys are much more likely to want to be
sports stars (+42 percent), construction
workers (+18 percent), and scientists
(+21 percent). The work force in the year
2000 will require many more scientists,
engineers, and mathematicians. However, by high school, while 52 percent of
boys think they would enjoy being scientists, only 29 percent of girls share that
opinion.
Still, the survey also reflects the dramatic societal changes in the last two decades. Most young people assume that
women will combine a job outside the
home with their job inside the home.
Even more girls than boys think they
could enter certain professions, most noticeably, the law.
These changes in gender perception
are among the brightest findings of the
survey, and signal a broad potential for
even greater changes with a better understanding of the reciprocal relationships
between schools and female students.
These results present a critical challenge
to schools as we face the social and economic realities of the next century.
while 52
percent of boys
think they
would enjoy
being scientists,
only 29 percent
of girls share
that opinion.
1 3
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Greenberg-Lake:
The Analysis Group
For U.S.
students to
rank first in
the world in
mathematics
and science by
the year 2000,
we must
reverse the
Schools transmit gender bias in the thousand and one signals they send girls and
boys about whats expected of them.
These expectations determine how girls
and boys are treated, how theyre taught,
and ultimately how theyre tracked onto
different paths through their schooling
and into their careers. In dozens of separate studies, researchers have found that
girls receive less attention, less praise, less
effective feedback, and less detailed instruction from teachers than do boys. Research
notion that
girls arent
good at math
Teachers tend to ask boys more complex, abstract, and open-ended questions, providing better opportunities for
active learning.
In class projects and assignments,
teachers are more likely to give detailed
instructions to boys, and more likely to
take over and finish the task for girls,
depriving them of active learning.
Teachers tend to praise boys more often than girls for the intellectual content and quality of their work. They
praise girls more often for neatness and
form.
When boys perform poorly, teachers
often blame failure on lack of effort.
Girls receive a different message; the
implication is that effort would not
improve their results.
All too often, teachers and counselors
track girls away from courses of study
that lead to high-skilled, high-paying,
high-technology careers.
and science.
The barrage of negative messages hits
girls at an especially vulnerable stage in
their lives. As Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America shows, many of the same
negative signals impact girls across racial
1 4
SHORTCHANGING
GIRLS,
SHORTCHANGING
AMERICA
and ethnic lines, though to somewhat varying degrees. New AAUW research will explore these variations further.
AAUW believes
that teachers
spearheading
an effort to
change to the
classroom.
Increasingly,
committed
teachers are
scrutinizing
their teaching
styles and
classroom
behaviors for
the hidden
messages they
convey.
1 5
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Girls and boys who like math and science are more likely to aspire to careers
in which these subjects are essential.
AAUW has
worked in
coalition with
groups like the
National
Education
Association, the
National School
Boards
Association,
and the
American
Association of
Colleges for
Teacher
Education to
develop
programs to
promote
change.
Girls and boys who like math and science are more likely to aspire to careers
as professionals. This relationship is
even stronger for girls than for boys.
Girls who like math are more confident
about their appearance and worry less
about others liking them.
Girls and boys who like math and science hold onto their career dreams
more stubbornly. They are less likely to
believe that they will be something different from what they want to be.
Many more girls than boys lose interest in mathematics and science after elementary school.
Here again, progress is being made.
AAUW community action grants have
funded a number of math/science summer camps for girls. Chris Short, project
director of a camp for eighth- through
10th-grade girls organized by the Lassen
County, California, Branch of AAUW,
says, The young women walked away
with strengthened self-esteemThey indicated on the camp evaluations that I
am okay, and I can do anything I want.
Similarly, teacher fellowships sponsored by the AAUW Educational
Foundations Eleanor Roosevelt Fund focus on developing new ways to draw
girls into math and science. Former
Teacher Fellow Betsy Adams, who
teaches math at Jordan High School in
Long Beach, California, sees these methods work. Many girls begin my class with
1 6
SHORTCHANGING
GIRLS,
SHORTCHANGING
AMERICA
Many girls
begin my class
with a negative
attitude about
math, says
A Call to Action
former Teacher
Its time to commit ourselves to a school
system and a society that encourage girls
to attain their full potential. We in
AAUW are doing our part.
Fellow Betsy
Adams, who
teaches math at
Jordan High
School in Long
Beach,
California. By
years end, they
believe they
too can be math
whizzes.
July 1994
1 7
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1 8
SHORTCHANGING
GIRLS,
SHORTCHANGING
AMERICA
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