Jezebel
A new survey by a numeracy campaign about basic math skills in British adults has been released, and it reports that one in three women have trouble adding sums mentally, while only 18% of men do. The results of the poll help to underscore the obnoxiousness of the London newspaper the Daily Mail: while the BBC report on the survey attributes the demographic gender split to women's lack of "confidence" in their own quantitative abilities, the Daily Mail takes the opportunity to imply that women are stupid and only need math skills for things like buying shoes. "34 per cent [of women]- said she had trouble adding up prices in her head while out shopping," the paper laments.
Finally, more than 50% of women "asked maths questions by their children or family said they struggled to answer them," reports the BBC. If the vintage calculator ad above is any indication — "If you can't remember numbers, Rapidman can!" displayed with a picture of a smiling, groceries clad couple — it's not that the average woman is worse at math than the average man, but that, as the BBC implies, she's just less confident in her abilities. (Age also was a major factor in the poll, as men and women over 55 were the most confident in their mathematical abilities, while 25 to 34-year-olds were the least sure of themselves.) Studies have shown that in the bell curve of mathematical ability, most women end up clustered around the middle, while men more often fall on the high and low ends of the ability spectrum, and in American schools, girls and boys are now equal in their math courses. Once again we say to the Daily Mail: sod off. Your proclamations about women's frivolousness are only discouraging their latent math skills. Danica McKellar, Winne Cooper from the Wonder Years and the co-author of a scientific paper about a theorem in mathematical physics is our new math deity.
[Image via Vintage Ads.]
The Women Who Admit: We Just Can't Figure Out Sums [Daily Mail] 'Many Struggle' With Arithmetic [BBC News]Earlier: Do We Suck At Math Because Of Biology Or The Patriarchy?
It All Adds Up
A Blast From The Past Brings A Glimmer Of Hope For The Future
Comments
[www.washingtonpost.com]
read it and spit, people.
If I had a kid asking me fucking ALGEBRA questions, I might not know, either. 'Cause guess what kids? You really don't use that in real life, unless you get a job related to it.
How stupid. I'm great at Math.
Finally, more than 50% of women "asked maths questions by their children or family said they struggled to answer them,"
maybe, just maybe...women are more honest about having to think for a second before answering? i don't think "reporting to have struggled" is exactly the same as "can't count past 10 without help."
Idiots+ Douchebags= Daily Mail.
Go Math Go!
@onthecornerofparkerandwoolf: And really who calls it MATHS. Sheesh. They can't even get the word right for the thing we're all supposedly terrible at.
The sort of women who say they can't do math and don't need to are the ones who wear the "I'm too pretty to do math!" shirts.
Also yay Winnie Cooper!
My maths may be poor, but that's got everything to do with a lack of interest coupled with a lack of necessity, and nothing to do with my vagina.
@hortense: Hahahahahaaha OMG I nominate that for comment of the day!
I'm a dude and I'm HORRIBLE at math
@katekate: Yeah seriously, it's the whole "are you smarter than a 5th grader thing". I could tell you a shitton of information on the Mayas, Incas and Aztecs when I was in 5th and 6th grade that I don;t really know anymore. YOu know why? Because I didn't just learn it and it's not fresh in my head. give me abreak.
I am faster than all the boys I know at calculating percentages off and tips. Or does it make it not important cause I only use it when I go shopping and go out to a restaurant.
It is time to learn, you guys:
+ Watch video
@inchworm: Read it. Funny thing is, her argument is all over the place (starts with Obama mania, ends up with Grey's Anatomy) and I got totally confused about where she was trying to go with it.
But maybe I'm just too dumb to understand it.
W?T?F???? I'm in a very math intensive doctoral program, and the reason that many girls are intimidated by the prospect of these programs is that they are told repeatedly stupid shit like this. Maybe if people quit trying to validate their crazy idea that wimmins can't do the math, shit like this would die out.
Math is a douche. He cheated on me with that whore Science.
Again, this story is based on a stupid premise. Let me add that I have two degrees in math. And when my kids ask for help with their homework, 50% of the time I say, "Gimme a sec I need to look it up".
@katekate: you may be being sarcastic, but on the off chance you're not-- brits call it "maths" not "math." i have no idea why.
@SinisterRouge: Aww, the old avatar's back!
I suck at math. But I think part of that is I'm not good at algebra and that kind of stuff, so when I hit high school and struggled with it (I was an honor roll kind of girl until I met high school math), the humiliation and anxiety over my inability to understand complex math colored my opinion of the subject for life.
But, I excelled in writing, reading comprehension, history, etc. Why doesn't the Daily Mail talk about that (because aren't women generally better than men on those subjects?).
Yes yes yes Daily Mail evil I know but AHHHH did anyone see the Washington Post article BY A WOMAN about how women are really just essentially stupid and we should accept it and stay home with the babies????
Also, I believe maths is the term in England. After all, it's short for mathematics - why don't we keep the plural, is what I want to know.
Also I just noticed your comment on the Washington Post thing, inchworm - Just wanted to say my boyfriend and I spat up a whole bucket of contempt last night. Disgusting.
@HappyHappyJoyJoy:
no, she was just spewing misogynistic GARBAGE. what pisses me off is that it has secured a place on the front page of the fucking washington post.
@katekate: That's how they say it in Jolly Old.
@inchworm: Her vagina needs to be revoked. Also, she's writing for the WaPo? Because her writing is wretched.
I totally suck at math. My dad (who is an engineer) spent days of his life trying to force math into my brain and it just never stuck. Guess who else sucks at math? My TWIN brother.
I can do basic arithmetic though and that is pretty much all I need to get through life.
@Scoregasm: It is totally a self fulfilling prophesy.
@onthecornerofparkerandwoolf: Because it's a contraction of "mathematics", I've always assumed. "Math" just sounds wrong to me. You don't call it "mathematic", do you?
I really suck at math, but that's because it's not my thing, not because I'm a woman. Ask me about art, history, etc. and I'm great. Math, not so much.
Oddly enough, my logic scores on the GRE's were exceptionally high, while the math portion was insanely low. I still haven't figured that one out (math may not equal logic. Who would have guessed?)
@inchworm: I saw this happen after the DC/MD/VA primaries. I was like, WTF? Is he, like, the next Barry White or some shit?
Love you too, baby.
(ok, I may be adding the "baby" in there.)
If men are so good at math, why do I only see men wearing those calculator watches? CHEATERS!
@inchworm: Oh, we're just too emotional to digest some hard truths like that!
Christ, this is NOT what we need on a Monday morning! (But thank you for bringing it to our attention!)
@DorothyZbornak:
i want to spit in her eye. i sat up at 1am dismantling every argument she put out there, and then i realized that the whole thing was pointless... because this fucking link WAS STILL ON THE FRONT PAGE.
fuck you washington post.
@seresy: yeah "art" and "history" the faggy subjects if you will.
@onthecornerofparkerandwoolf: Totally true. My sister called to ask me a few math questions, and my BF totes thought he knew his shit right away, but I thought about it a bit longer and was right. All he could say was, "oh."
I really do believe most women are more hesitant than women. And greater percentage of women are more humble than men. Plus, their more meticulous. That's why in most school, teachers assume that more girls than boys will do well, because girls actually take more time to make sure things are right.
(a lot of generalizations there, i know. but generalizations exist for a reason: they're partly true.)
@inchworm: why is that woman even taken seriously to be published in a paper? when was the last time a FEMINIST was published in the wapo? would it KILL a fucking newspaper to let katha pollit write for them, for the love of all things holy?
@inchworm: Between that editorial and this story, I'm losing faith in humanity.
@AthertonMerriweather: haha!
@inchworm: WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS. THAT.
So I don't understand why more women don't relax, enjoy the innate abilities most of us possess (as well as the ones fewer of us possess) and revel in the things most important to life at which nearly all of us excel: tenderness toward children and men and the weak and the ability to make a house a home.(...)Then we could shriek and swoon and gossip and read chick lit to our hearts' content and not mind the fact that way down deep, we are . . . kind of dim.
NO.SERIOUSLY. WHAT?
daily mail can suck it. i'm the only female interactive developer i know of in my program and my best friend is and AEROSPACE ENGINEER, who frequently has to help her male counterparts with their homework.
stories like this perpetuate the idea that to succeed in math driven fields you either have to hide the fact that you have a vagina or flaunt it for all its worth. *gags*
@inchworm: You may address all hate mail about that WashPost article to: charfleur@aol.com. Thanks, author, for giving us your email address!
@inchworm: horrifying.
Is it me or does it seem like blatant sexism is getting more acceptable rather than less? You don't even need to be subtle and you can get in a major fucking publication. wtf?
I mean, jebus, what a weekend of stories about how women are stupid. LATimes had its Joel Stein column, the WaPo thing made me feel stabby on my relaxing Sunday morning, and now this. I've srsly just about had it with reading anything except cuteoverload (or anything with lolcats), xkcd, and any post on onedatatime (yay SM!) or fourfour (yay Rich and his kitties and his ANTM recaps!). I think I need a sabbatical from reading the news.
Psh, whatever. I'm awful at algebra but rock at geometry. I just don't have a facination with numbers that some people do. But I can add to 21 faster than anyone else I know. Thanks gambling, you've taught me so much!
@Political Party Girl: I'm tryting to think of something I could email to her but I can't get past the FUCK YOU intro in 72pt bold Block letters.
@Political Party Girl: i'm not pissed at her though, she's just a crazy lady who belongs in a home. i'm pissed at WAPO for elevating her hallucinations to the point of publishing.
@ineffable.me: I was NOT clicking on the link, because I wanted to keep my nice relaxed springtime feeling this morning.
But now I need to cut a bitch. Maybe I'm not meant to be easygoing.
@J.D.Regent:
EXACTLY. i want to know who decided to PRINT this garbage.
@ineffable.me:
"Depressing as it is, several of the supposed misogynist myths about female inferiority have been proven true. Women really are worse drivers than men, for example. A study published in 1998... women clocked 5.7 auto accidents per million miles driven, in contrast to men's 5.1, even though men drive about 74 percent more miles a year than women. The only good news was that women tended to take fewer driving risks than men, so their crashes were only a third as likely to be fatal."
never mind that the 5.1 vs 5.7 TOOK INTO ACCOUNT THE NUMBER OF MILES DRIVEN, as it's PER MILLION MILES. you fucking asshole.
@inchworm:
AND THE WERE LESS FATAL ACCIDENTS.
yeah, she's retarded. who edited? hm?