Woman to Women

What Counts

Forget the gender-gap stereotypes - math is a women's
best-kept secret

-Stephanie Feuer

"Girls = Boys in Math." "Girls Measure Up in Math." The headlines were clever and upbeat. Based on test scores of 7 million students, a study published in a recent issue of the journal Science concluded that girls perform as well as boys on standardized math tests, reversing the results seen in similar studies over the past 20 years.

Most of the articles invoked the 1992 talking Barbie doll, who, among her other nuggets, said "Math class is tough." Few passed on the opportunity to recall the controversial remarks made in 2005 by then Harvard president Lawrence Summers, who said women did not have the "intrinsic aptitude" needed for top posts in science and math. None of the articles talked about my mother.

Or your mother. Because Summers wasn't completely wrong. There is something to those XX chromosomes and the fact that counting is the best-kept secret of our gender. Our moms knew. read more...