Why is math still a man's (and barbecue) business?

• This back to school, mathematics returns (optional) in the common core in Première.

• The reform of the baccalaureate had shown large disparities in the choices of high school girls and high school students in the face of math.

  In 2021, 52% of girls (compared to 31% of boys) have chosen to stop the maths specialty in Terminale.

• But why do girls feel so illegitimate when it comes to playing with numbers?

  Between built-in prejudices, gender games and lack of representation,

  20 Minutes

  looks at the reasons that lead girls to prefer words to numbers.

A little arithmetic problem: if I grill twelve chipolatas, fifteen merguez sausages and five lamb chops, how many pieces of meat will my six guests each have?

As the start of the new school year takes shape, mathematics returns (optional) in the common core in Première.

Since the reform of the baccalaureate, conducted during the first term of Emmanuel Macron, the subject was only taught in a few specialties.

To the detriment of young girls who have turned to other teachings.

But why is math always gendered?

Are they as indomitable for women as the sacrosanct Sunday barbecue?

In Terminale, 52% of girls (against 31% of boys) chose to stop the maths specialty.

But the origins of this imbalance are actually much earlier.

The difference in marks widens from the 5th and, even worse, differences in level begin to be observed from CP between girls and boys.

"It's not because they don't have the skills that they make that choice," immediately tempers Diane Dupont, director of the diversity council at Diversidées.

Because girls are quite capable of succeeding in science subjects, when they choose them.

In 2020, 98.5% of girls in the S sector obtained their baccalaureate compared to 97.3% of boys, according to INSEE.

Science for boys, drawing and cleaning for girls

"Mathematics is a big concern," admits Laetitia Veiras, the rector's adviser on gender equality for the Rennes academy.

The math problem has already been addressed during the 2022 back-to-school meetings, she says.

Very young, girls learn that math is not for them.

Diane Dupont and Laetitia Veiras both evoke the figure of Rey to illustrate this phenomenon.

This exercise consists of reproducing a complex geometric figure of the head.

When the exercise is presented to school children as geometric, the boys obtain better results but when it is presented as a drawing, it is the girls who stand out.

The geometric shape is however identical in both cases.

Whether in the pages of their problems to solve, in their cartoons or in their lessons, students are constantly confronted with gender stereotypes.

“In toy catalogs, 77% of games associated with science are represented by boys,” recalls Diane Dupont, based on a study by sociologist Mona Zegaï dated 2013. And “in CP textbooks, scientific professions are illustrated 97% by boys, while household chores or cooking are illustrated by 70% by girls,” she adds.

Trust and role models

“Girls are made to believe that they are not good at math,” regrets the diversity specialist.

With equal math skills, girls and women tend to feel less legitimate than men.

“Students' confidence and self-esteem play an important role in some of the differences found between girls and boys in mathematics.

Personal perceptions of competence [influence] real success" or "many studies have shown that in general it is boys or men who are more confident in mathematics", explains in 2008 the British study

.

"Scientific models, whether historical or current, are very masculine", regrets the gender equality expert for whom "we must show more women scientists and female successes to give models to follow for young girls. ".

Because gendered representation creeps in from an early age.

Draw me a composer

Laetitia Veiras works precisely to impregnate the school benches with models of great women.

"We recently did a training with heads of establishments and we asked them to quote an invention created by a woman, a composer, a mathematician and I must say that the colleagues rowed a lot," she admits.

But, precisely, the objective of these trainings is to encourage teachers to cite more female role models and to avoid continuing to “transmit and dig into stereotypes without being aware of them”.

And when we quote a woman in science class, we are not satisfied with Marie Curie.

"Marie Curie, it's two Nobel Prizes!"

Who can identify with her?

asks Laetitia Veiras, who remarks that to be cited as a model as a woman, the bar is particularly high.

We can, however, unearth women scientists who are more accessible - and less radioactive.

The “Girls, Maths, Computers” Days organized last March enabled young girls to meet women in science and to create sponsorships as well as support.

“Overall, there has been an awareness and measures taken since 2019 but since the problem is societal, to solve it, we would have to move the whole of society”, underlines Laetitia Veiras.

A stain from Titanide.

Company

At 15, she has just been crowned "Miss Mathematics 2022"

Company

High school: Will second-year students take up the new maths option in 1st?

• Company

• Education

• National Education

• gender equality

• Math

• Science