Sunday, August 19, 2012

HBR Daily Stat: Why a Female Scientist in a Pink Dress Is No Hero to Girls

Adolescent girls' plans for taking college math drop if they're shown feminine-looking women excelling in technological fields. After 11- to 13-year-old girls heard about women who were successful in science and wore dark-colored clothing, their expectations of taking math averaged 5.57 on a 1-to-7 scale, say Diana Betz and Denise Sekaquaptewa of the University of Michigan. But when girls learned about science-achieving women who wore makeup and pink clothes, their expectations of taking math fell to 4.04. Feminine-looking scientists may seem a rare breed to gender-stereotyping adolescents, and past research suggests that unattainable role models aren't inspiring, they're threatening.

Read more in My Fair Physicist?

Why Women Aren’t C.E.O.s, According to Women Who Almost Were

"It’s not a pipeline problem. It’s about loneliness, competition and deeply rooted barriers." Read more in the NYT .