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EXPECIALLY
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09 Mar 2012, 7:58 am

OTOH I've wondered if teen girls are just having more disruptions in the brain due to hormonal changes than boys.

I know they're going through it too obviously, but estrogen swings combined with a still developing brain have the effect of making one crazy. I wasn't even one of the really girly teenage girls but it doesn't matter, I definitely had a few years where I really wasn't in control of my mind.

Now I'm actually better at math and not really less spatially ret*d(which they say often contributes to or at least occurs along side with excellent mathematical ability) but I don't have trouble learning it like I did as teen.

Once you fall behind in 9th-10th grade it's extremely hard to recover, I think that could explain a lot.


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20 Mar 2012, 3:59 pm

yes, science is a "Man's field, anyway it can be your field too, no real restriction, only a traditional one.

Men love inteligent women, there should be more female scientists, they are lovelly ;-)

Do it passionately, and enjoy it.


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20 Mar 2012, 6:37 pm

I don't think it's a "man's" field per say, but there certainly are more men involved in it. For example, currently female college graduates outnumber male college graduates (per year, I don't know if that's true for total graduates). However, in technical fields such as engineering, there are typically ~75% men and 25% women in a graduating class. The women involved in scientific/technical fields can be every bit as capable as men. However I think that the main reason that many women shun these fields is just out of a lack of interest. It's my impression that this is largely caused by perceived societal expectations. Anything remotely scientific is often portrayed as "nerdy" and "antisocial" in popular culture, and I think that this impression may have a larger effect on women than it does on men when it comes to deciding on a career path. Of course I could be completely wrong, but that's just how I see it.



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22 Mar 2012, 9:05 am

Stargazer43 wrote:
I don't think it's a "man's" field per say, but there certainly are more men involved in it. For example, currently female college graduates outnumber male college graduates (per year, I don't know if that's true for total graduates). However, in technical fields such as engineering, there are typically ~75% men and 25% women in a graduating class. The women involved in scientific/technical fields can be every bit as capable as men. However I think that the main reason that many women shun these fields is just out of a lack of interest. It's my impression that this is largely caused by perceived societal expectations. Anything remotely scientific is often portrayed as "nerdy" and "antisocial" in popular culture, and I think that this impression may have a larger effect on women than it does on men when it comes to deciding on a career path. Of course I could be completely wrong, but that's just how I see it.


To excel in science and mathematics when one is young (and at his/her mental peak) requires an investment in time that would interfere with child up bringing. Women bear the major expenditure of time and effort to bring up a child compared to a man. All a man has to do is get his lady pregnant and he can pretty well be an absentee father. For a women, more time and effort is required to do the job. So a woman would have to make the choice: Be a math or physics genius or be a mother. The years of being one's mental prime coincide exactly with the years of maximum fertility for a woman. As a result many women will not make the sacrifice necessary to being a world class physicist or mathematician. Other branches of science require a lesser investment of time and energy. That is why there are so many women in fields related to psychology or some kind of care and nurturing.

ruveyn



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28 Mar 2012, 4:07 pm

science has been a mans field traditionally due to a historical lack of opportunities for women to get a proper education as required for science let alone to take up such a profession due to social pressure due to traditional gender roles.

this being said, A) there is no evidence suggesting a correlation between someones qualification for a scientific career and someones gender and B) the proportion of women in science has strongly increased within the last century. in my lab its pretty much even actually.

as for the "girls are scared of math" thing, i read a study about how the way math as a subject is introduced in primary schools by female teachers (who are not very confident about their math skills themselves) might influence girls perception of it (something thats very hard, complicated and more or less for boys) while boys are rather immune against math being presented in such a biased or at least hesitant way because they tend to "identify" with male "rolemodels" rather than female primary school teachers. if i recall that argumentation correctly. i can look it up and post it here in case someones interested.



edit: just to state this a bit more clearly, i do not perceive the "traditional gender roles" i mentioned above to be solely invented and established by men.



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29 Mar 2012, 11:05 am

I would probably make a pretty good scientist or even a doctor if It wasn't for the fact that I actually have "feelings" and "emotions" that society seems to hate so much. And the fact that I have a huge problem being around sick, contagious people (can't stand being in the same building with someone constantly coughing) And the lack of a college education and even a high-school diploma (EPIC FAILURE) isn't helping, either. :(



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31 Mar 2012, 6:56 pm

lostonearth35 wrote:
I would probably make a pretty good scientist or even a doctor if It wasn't for the fact that I actually have "feelings" and "emotions" that society seems to hate so much. And the fact that I have a huge problem being around sick, contagious people (can't stand being in the same building with someone constantly coughing) And the lack of a college education and even a high-school diploma (EPIC FAILURE) isn't helping, either. :(


Medicine is clearly not your best career choice.

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01 Apr 2012, 12:18 am

Every math teacher I had from high school algebra through multi-variate calculus in college was female, except for the statistics teachers, who were all male.



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01 Apr 2012, 12:35 am

LKL wrote:
Every math teacher I had from high school algebra through multi-variate calculus in college was female, except for the statistics teachers, who were all male.


same here



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01 Apr 2012, 10:46 am

EXPECIALLY wrote:
OTOH I've wondered if teen girls are just having more disruptions in the brain due to hormonal changes than boys.

I know they're going through it too obviously, but estrogen swings combined with a still developing brain have the effect of making one crazy. I wasn't even one of the really girly teenage girls but it doesn't matter, I definitely had a few years where I really wasn't in control of my mind.

Now I'm actually better at math and not really less spatially ret*d(which they say often contributes to or at least occurs along side with excellent mathematical ability) but I don't have trouble learning it like I did as teen.

Once you fall behind in 9th-10th grade it's extremely hard to recover, I think that could explain a lot.


Speaking as a man, I haven't been in control of my brain since I hit puberty. I swear if I could elect away one part of my gender is the idiotic way females affect my brain.



01 Apr 2012, 10:56 am

iceveela wrote:
I wrote an article about this but it did not save and I lost it, so I am not writing another.

But what I want to know is: Do you think science is a "Man's field?"

I have been told that science is a "man's field", and that I am a female.

Yes, I am a female, but I like science and am going into a field of science.

what is your opinion on the whole "man's field" thing?



If you like science and you are pursuing it as a field of study and profession, I say go for it and don't worry about these gender stereotypes.



01 Apr 2012, 10:58 am

ruveyn wrote:
My guess is this: even if all cultural bias against females is removed, at the very top (95 th percentile or higher) of the population of mathematicians and theoretical physicists you will find a majority of males. I think there are definitely gender related factors in the way human brains work.

Only a guess.



ruveyn



I partially agree with you. Because from what I see there are already certain fields of science where women dominate. And one of those is Chemistry.



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01 Apr 2012, 1:31 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Stargazer43 wrote:
I don't think it's a "man's" field per say, but there certainly are more men involved in it. For example, currently female college graduates outnumber male college graduates (per year, I don't know if that's true for total graduates). However, in technical fields such as engineering, there are typically ~75% men and 25% women in a graduating class. The women involved in scientific/technical fields can be every bit as capable as men. However I think that the main reason that many women shun these fields is just out of a lack of interest. It's my impression that this is largely caused by perceived societal expectations. Anything remotely scientific is often portrayed as "nerdy" and "antisocial" in popular culture, and I think that this impression may have a larger effect on women than it does on men when it comes to deciding on a career path. Of course I could be completely wrong, but that's just how I see it.


To excel in science and mathematics when one is young (and at his/her mental peak) requires an investment in time that would interfere with child up bringing. Women bear the major expenditure of time and effort to bring up a child compared to a man. All a man has to do is get his lady pregnant and he can pretty well be an absentee father. For a women, more time and effort is required to do the job. So a woman would have to make the choice: Be a math or physics genius or be a mother. The years of being one's mental prime coincide exactly with the years of maximum fertility for a woman. As a result many women will not make the sacrifice necessary to being a world class physicist or mathematician. Other branches of science require a lesser investment of time and energy. That is why there are so many women in fields related to psychology or some kind of care and nurturing.

ruveyn


I actually saw a statistic that said men actually wanted children less than women, however ended up having children because they wanted to be with a woman who wanted children. I can't remember where I read it though.



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03 Apr 2012, 9:54 am

AspieRogue wrote:
ruveyn wrote:
My guess is this: even if all cultural bias against females is removed, at the very top (95 th percentile or higher) of the population of mathematicians and theoretical physicists you will find a majority of males. I think there are definitely gender related factors in the way human brains work.

Only a guess.



ruveyn



I partially agree with you. Because from what I see there are already certain fields of science where women dominate. And one of those is Chemistry.


There are also prominent women in psychology and psychiatry. Women do equally well as men in medicine. Particularly gynecology. I imagine a woman patient would be more at ease with a female gynecologist in matters pertaining to the plumbing.

ruveyn



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04 Apr 2012, 12:42 am

^ Absolutely. Men seem to see it as either disgusting, or some sort of divine alter. Women are more pragmatic about it.
Also more sympathetic.



04 Apr 2012, 11:07 am

But why so many women in chemistry? What is about it that appeals to women moreso than men.


:?: