Should we have girls-only programs to attract more girls into STEM fields?
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Men outnumber women by approximately 5-to-1 in certain high-paying STEM fields, like computer science and engineering. In order to attract more girls and women to these fields, several universities have launched all-girls camps. Now these camps are coming under fire for being biased against boys, and it’s time to question whether these programs are even helpful for girls.
In 2015, women received 18% of all undergraduate degrees in computer science and 20% of those in engineering. Of all science and engineering jobs, women hold only 28% according to a 2018 NSF report. In order to lure more women into these fields, all-girls camps and programs have popped up at universities throughout the country. For example, the University of California, Berkeley offers a “Girls in Engineering” camp “to cultivate a fun, non-threatening environment that is designed to show how exciting engineering can be.”
The Legal Question: Are Girls-Only Camps Biased Against Boys?
But now, camps like the one at Berkeley are under fire for discriminating against boys. Those opposed to the programs say they violate Title IX, the federal law that bans sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. Similar camps and programs at other universities are also under investigation. In fact, the Los Angeles Times reports, the U.S. Department of Education has opened more than two dozen investigations into universities across the nation that offer a variety of female-only programs and scholarships including these camps for middle and high school girls.
Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore told the Los Angeles Times that five years ago, they started the camp to lure more girls into engineering, because only 29% of students enrolled in Berkeley’s engineering college are women. She stated that although Berkeley would change its marketing materials to make clear the summer camp was open to all genders, the camp will remain known as “Girls in Engineering.”
The Psychology Question: Are Girls-Only Camps Good For Girls?
The issue of whether these girls-only camps are permitted under Title IX will most likely be addressed in the courts, but the question remains whether these programs are actually beneficial for girls—or could they be making things worse?
Neuroscientist and gender expert Lise Eliot, author of Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps – And What We Can Do About It says she’s not a big fan of single-gender STEM programs, “I do see them as discriminatory, and I have yet to see good evidence that they increase the number of women who persevere in STEM. Instead, I wonder if it sends a message not unlike segregated sports teams, that girls aren’t actually as capable as boys, so need their own STEM league—which sadly never makes it to the Majors.”
There is indeed no evidence that these programs are effective. An analysis in Science reports, “The data [on girls-only STEM camps] don’t exist because researchers have conducted no high-quality evaluations of such programs. Most camps settle for a simple precamp and postcamp attitudinal survey. Any follow up is strictly anecdotal. And forget about a randomized control trial. Educators say such an assessment would be impractical, intrusive, and the cost would be prohibitive.”
One thing we do know is that girls attending single-sex high schools and colleges are not any likelier to pursue STEM careers (or to remain in STEM careers) than those attending coed schools, suggesting that having boys around is not a deterrent for girls.
So, there’s no evidence that these all-girls programs are helpful, but could they be making the problem worse by contributing to stereotypes about girls and STEM? As Eliot points out, the existence of these camps may be unintentionally sending negative messages that girls in STEM are somehow inferior to their male counterparts, and that’s why they need their own camp.
At the very least these camps send the message that boys and girls can’t enjoy STEM activities together, which certainly doesn’t bode well for the transition into college and real-world work situations. Eliot says, “In short, I think that gender segregation and the implicit gender label that every college major and career track carries is the problem, not the solution, to better apportionment of talent across careers.” In other words, promoting gender segregation by offering all-girls camps may be exacerbating the problem.
Just because girls-only camps may not be the answer to attracting more women into STEM doesn’t mean we should give up. Girls should certainly be encouraged and supported in their pursuit of STEM fields, just as boys should be encouraged to pursue fields where they are underrepresented like nursing or elementary education. But, allowing these interests to be developed in coed environments will help put an end to the stereotyping that keeps these fields segregated by gender in the first place.
