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Mission Possible
Famed Female Astronauts Helping Gifted Girls Reach for the Stars By Kim Byrum Skinner
National studies also report a divide in boys' and girls' career aspirations. In science or engineering, the discrepancy emerges as early as eighth grade, with boys more than twice as likely to aspire to become scientists or engineers. The gap widens as females climb educational and career ladders, leading to lower pay and significant lack of representation, even though women comprise nearly half the labor market.
"Not all girls see it," says Ride, who rocketed to fame June 18, 1983, aboard Challenger flight STS-7. "Not all girls pay attention to it. But it really does affect a significant number of girls, especially in middle school. There are also, still, some lingering stereotypes out there. Girls who are 13 years old don't really think about engineers as female yet. They tend to hear the word 'engineer' and associate it with, you know, some 50-year-old with a pocket protector: 'White Male Geek.' That's just not an attractive stereotype for a young girl."
What factors are at work? Plenty. They include the following:
- Girls' less assertive classroom demeanor
- Boys' more demonstrative classroom behavior
- Subtle, stereotypical cues from well-meaning but unaware teachers
- Parents whose careless words and labels broadcast the message that male-dominated fields aren't socially acceptable frontiers
"Girls tend to really need to know they're OK and can be great at something," Sullivan says. "If they get jostled or elbowed too hard, their tendency is not to lean into your nose and punch in your face; it's to back out. At the same time, guys are getting more and more of the signals through sports, family, countless things to step up and be counted. Step up and go forward. Grab something. Build something. Take something. Shape something.
"Watch teachers and parents with an exuberant young boy and a frenetic young girl sometime," she says. "There's this bubble of acceptance that he's a boy. He has to bounce off the end of his leash. It's OK. He's supposed