Womenstake

Who Says Girls Aren't Good at Math and Science?

by Taryn Wilgus Null, MARGARET Fund Fellow
National Women's Law Center

Take note, Larry Summers.

Less than three years ago, then-president of Harvard Larry Summers stated at an academic conference that the paucity of women at the highest levels of math and science might be a result of innate differences between men's and women's abilities. We were dismayed at his comments then and now there is further evidence that he didn't quite know what he was talking about. Yesterday, for the first time in the history of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology, girls placed first in both the team and individual categories. First prize in the team category went to Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff, who created a molecule that helps block the reproduction of drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria. The seventeen-year-old girls will split a $100,000 scholarship. Isha Himani Jain, who is sixteen, won a $100,000 scholarship in the individual category for her studies of bone growth in zebra fish.

Wow.

On a day when it was reported that the math and science skills of American teens lag behind those of their peers in many other industrialized countries, we can be heartened that these young women are excelling in spite of stereotypes and biases about the science and math abilities of girls and women.

These girls have already set ambitious goals for themselves in their chosen fields. Ms. Schlossberger plans to study physics in college while Ms. Marinoff plans to study both biology and French and hopes to become a doctor for Doctors Without Borders. After studying biology and math in college, Ms. Jain aspires to lead a lab focused on those disciplines. Given their accomplishments thus far, the sky is clearly the limit for these talented young women. Harvard may want to keep an eye out for these girls.

Teen Pregnancy Rate Still Too High for Latinas

by Taryn Wilgus Null, MARGARET Fund Fellow
National Women’s Law Center

As recounted in this blog last week, the Washington Post recently reported that the teen pregnancy rate has dropped significantly in the District of Columbia over the last decade. This is good news.

There are, however, troubling facts that should not be lost in the celebration. First, there are still too many teens who get pregnant. In addition, the teen pregnancy rate among Latinas, in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, remains alarmingly high. Nationwide, the Latino teen pregnancy rate is almost twice the national average and has declined only about half as fast as the national rate. Moreover, the birthrate among Latinas aged 15-19 actually increased in the District of Columbia and 17 of 47 reporting states between 1995 and 2003.

The explanation for this disturbing trend is no doubt very complex. According to a Newsweek article from last week, various advocates believe that current pregnancy prevention campaigns targeting the Latino community have failed to connect culturally with young Latinas. A new initiative launched by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy is working to bridge this cultural gap.

The potential impact of a teen pregnancy on a young woman’s life and future was highlighted by the findings of When Girls Don’t Graduate, We All Fail: A Call to Improve High School Graduation Rates for Girls, a groundbreaking new report released last week by the National Women’s Law Center. The report found that approximately one in four girls fails to complete high school within the standard four year period. The dropout rate is higher for Latinas; in 2004, 37 percent of Latina girls failed to graduate from high school within the standard four year period.

There is a strong link between teen pregnancy and high school dropouts. Of girls who do not complete high school, one-fourth to one-third cite pregnancy or parenting responsibilities as an important factor in their decisions to drop out. Only one-third of teen mothers receive a high school diploma and only 1.5 percent have a college degree by age 30.

Thus, it is critical that pregnancy prevention campaigns effectively reach all girls, and we salute the National Campaign’s efforts to meet this goal. It’s also essential that schools do their part to offer students who are pregnant or parenting the support they need to stay in school. This is because girls who drop out of high school are likely to face a host of challenges over the course of their lives, such as extremely low employment rates and wages, dependence on public support programs, and health problems.

With the commitment of schools and advocates to ensure that every student is able to get an education, together we can work to reduce the dropout rate for Latinas and other students.

NWLC Releases Report on Girls’ High School Dropout Problem

by Taryn Wilgus Null, MARGARET Fund Fellow
National Women’s Law Center

If you listen to the media, you might think that boys are the only ones dropping out of high school.

Wrong.

Girls, and especially female students of color, are failing to graduate at alarmingly high rates, too. On Tuesday, the National Women’s Law Center released When Girls Don’t Graduate, We All Fail: A Call to Improve High School Graduation Rates for Girls. Here are some of the startling statistics from that report:

• Almost half of the estimated 1.2 million high school dropouts from the Class of 2007 were female students; overall, an estimated one in four female students will not graduate with a regular high school diploma in the standard, four-year time period.

• The rates are even worse for girls of color. Nationwide, 37 percent of Hispanic, 40 percent of Black, and 50 percent of American Indian or Alaskan Native female students respectively failed to graduate in four years in 2004.

• Girls who fail to graduate from high school face lower employment rates than boys. In 2006, for example, 77 percent of adult male dropouts were employed, while only 53 percent of their female peers had jobs.

• Female dropouts who do get jobs make significantly lower wages than their male counterparts. Female high school dropouts earn only 63 percent of male earnings — or about $9,100 less annually than male high school dropouts.

• Female dropouts struggle with worse health conditions and less access to health coverage to address their needs. They also are more likely to need to rely on public support programs.

It’s clear that more research must be done to identify the reasons that girls, as opposed to boys, drop out – and to determine whether there are targeted interventions that will be more effective for some groups of students than for others. The research that has been done shows that gender does matter in the dropout crisis. For example, pregnancy and parenting responsibilities have a considerable impact on the ability of female students to stay in school. Additionally, low attendance rates, the impact of sexual harassment, and academic concerns may be more influential factors for girls than for boys when deciding whether to drop out.

When Girls Don’t Graduate outlines specific proposals to help reduce girls’ dropout rates, many of which are likely to help boys as well. These recommendations include: conducting more gender-based research; improving data collection; increasing school accountability for dropouts; providing additional support for pregnant and parenting students; ensuring that girls have equal access to career and technical education and training for high-skill, high-wage jobs; ensuring that girls have equal access to after-school programs, including athletics; protecting students from sexual harassment and bullying; and ensuring that students know how to report sex discrimination. The Center has also prepared a number of tools that schools can use to implement the recommendations of the report.

High school dropout is a serious problem for girls as well as boys. All of our nation’s students deserve the dedication and attention of schools and policymakers to ensure that each of them has an opportunity to get an education.

Fresno State Pays Big for Discrimination

by Taryn Wilgus Null, MARGARET Fund Fellow
National Women’s Law Center

California State University at Fresno is finding that discriminating against women can be mighty expensive. The university announced last week that it will pay Diane Milutinovich, a former associate athletics director at the university, $3.5 million to settle a sex discrimination and retaliation case that she filed in 2004. Ms. Milutinovich alleged that she was forced out of the athletics department because she is a woman who argued for greater opportunities for female athletes.

This is not the first time that Title IX violations have been alleged against Fresno State. In July, a jury awarded $5.85 million to Lindy Vivas, a former Fresno State volleyball coach, who alleged that she was fired because she advocated for gender equity. The university sought a new trial, but the court decided not to order a new trial so long as Ms. Vivas will accept a reduced award of just over $4.5 million.

In addition, jury selection has been underway for the sex discrimination and sexual harassment suit filed by Stacy Johnson-Klein, a former Fresno State women’s basketball coach, who alleged that her March 2005 firing was in retaliation for her complaints about unequal treatment of female athletes.

Fortunately, this pattern has started to attract some attention. California State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, issued a statement that “there is definitely a pattern to the discrimination claims at Fresno State.” This summer, after the award was made to Ms. Vivas, Sen. Florez formed a committee to investigate abuses of Title IX and gender discrimination in the athletics programs of California public universities. Let’s hope that this committee is a step in the direction of gender equity and compliance with Title IX at Fresno State and elsewhere.

On Labor Day, Workers Still Not Treated Equitably

By Taryn Wilgus Null

Yesterday, our nation celebrated Labor Day, which honors the achievements and contributions of American workers.  Unfortunately, not all workers receive the same treatment and respect.  As we honor workers, it is vital that we recommit ourselves to ensuring equity for all workers in the workplace. 

It is not news that there is a pay gap between the wages of male and female workers.  As was recently confirmed by new Census Department data, a female worker earns only 77 cents for each dollar that a male worker earns.  Sadly, this pay gap has a dramatic effect on the poverty rates of women.  In fact, studies show that paying men and women equally for equal work would cut the poverty rates of single mothers in half.