Xs and Ys of Math, Science and Gender Inequality
The ‘Why’ Behind FemOvation, a Creative Challenge Honoring Women
I have been a math and science tutor for many a year now. I have taught hundreds of students with wildly varied backgrounds, abilities, attitudes, levels of conscientiousness etc. There are 2 polar student archetypes that I encounter all the time that I specifically wanted to talk about. Let’s call them Student X and Student Y:
Student X has immense natural talent, but very often doesn’t see it in themselves. They can be shy and lack self-confidence and self-belief. This unfortunately echoes through to their confidence in their math ability. They are usually diligent though, and open to learning and improving. I love teaching Student Xs because my role is often less about teaching the content itself and more about mentoring them, unlocking their potential. Helping them see and believe the ability I believe I see in them.
Student Y is usually a bit more confident. Overconfident at times. They don’t lack belief in their ability and in some situations this can be advantageous. However, this also sometimes leads to folds of complacency and smugness, which results in less diligence and commitment to work. It’s not easy nor fun teaching someone who thinks they know everything.
In my experience, I have empirically found that Student X seems to be majority Female, and Student Y majority male. Note- I’m not saying all girls are student Xs and all boys are student Ys, but that most student Xs are girls and most student Ys are boys. Important distinction!.
Then, in early 2017, this New York Times article was published, which totally validated my hypotheses. According to this article, young girls (ironically) buy into the false narrative that boys are smarter than girls. This is frustrating and disheartening to hear, but is certainly enlightening in helping to understand the cultural stereotypes that exist, that are stagnating the growth and belief of the average young girl. The reasons for this are numerous, layered and deeply entrenched in the collective subconscious and sexist history of society. In recent decades, glass ceilings were only rarely broken through, and only by exceptional individuals that had the perseverance, courage and resilience to battle through all the adversity imposed upon them by the patriarchy. But times they are a changing…
As a whole, women are now bolder, stronger and more empowered than ever before, and it’s glorious!
They say the future is female, but I say that women are our present! (pun intended). Take a look at the turbulent times our country is currently experiencing, where our core values and courage are being challenged on a daily basis. We have a tremendous fight on our hands to assure love, equality and acceptance for all. As evidenced by the pioneering of the largest one-day protest in US history (i.e. the Women’s March, Jan 21, 2017) women are leading the resistance and revolution to ensure our communities, our country and our planet are strengthened, not destroyed. Women don’t tend to start wars, but they are uniting to end this one. It has taken many centuries of patriarchal rule to reach this tipping point.
Although let’s be clear… we are still not even close to where we need to get to. Not even close to just basic equality. But we WILL get there.
For me, an easy but important place to start is to focus on those shy student Xs who need the encouragement and confidence to unlock their vast potential. Let’s focus on those young girls who don’t think they’re smart enough, who think boys are better than them at most everything. These young and malleable spirits and minds need to know just how exceptional they, their sisters, their mothers, their BFFs, and all women and girls around the world are. Let’s celebrate and honor the amazing fempowered women in our lives and show our next generation and the many to follow, that females are leaders. Strong, fearless, intelligent, talented, altruistic and loving leaders!
With that:
Virtueconomy, in collaboration with The Women’s Lab in the Centre for Social Innovation NYC, proudly present FEMOVATION — the Creative Challenge in Honor of Women
Women’s work, voices and causes have been undervalued for far too long. It’s time they receive the acclaim, adoration, appreciation and admiration they so richly deserve. This creative challenge is the opportunity for you to channel your wordsmithery, artistry and imaginative genius in honor and celebration of the strong, empowered and kickass women of this world! #femovation
You may already have some super cool submissions from prior work you’ve created, or perhaps this challenge may inspire something new and fempowering. We welcome it all. We will be combining the best submissions and immortalizing them into a full wall mural in the Women’s Lab @ CSI NY. More info here
Deadline for submissions is end of Friday, April 14, 2017.
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P.P.S. There is a math/science/pun nerd within me that is screaming to geek out for a moment here. So I shall. I chose to use Student X and Student Y (as opposed to student A and B or student 1 and 2) for a few reasons:
Let’s start with biology and the sex-determination system. Note- I wanted to acknowledge upfront there are absolutely exceptions to the following, and that gender is not binary and falls on a spectrum. That said, scientific convention has assigned the following: females typically have two of the same kind of sex chromosome (XX), and males typically have two distinct sex chromosomes (XY). In simplified terms, females always give an X chromosome to every reproductive exchange. Based on the sperm cell that wins the swim race to fertilize the women’s egg, males will either give an X or a Y. If they give an X, you’ll get a female (XX), if they give a Y, you’ll get a male (XY). 50:50 shot. With this in mind, I therefore couldn’t help myself with the naming of the students as X and Y, especially with the foresight of where the narrative was heading. It was too subtle to pick up before you knew where I was going with it, but in hindsight it’s a bit of pun fun.
I also liked the use of X and Y because they are the most commonly used variables in algebra. In linear algebra, the basic coordinate plane is constructed using the x-axis and the y-axis, with their intersection being the origin.
I kind of liked the metaphor of the ‘female axis’ (X) and ‘male axis’ (Y) intersecting with one another. Without the other, they’d simply be a line in 1 dimension. With the other, they are a plane in 2 dimensions. So they literally bring an entirely new dimension to one another. Truth.
To continue the ‘gender axes’ analogy:
In science, the X-axis is often considered the Independent variable and the y-axis the Dependent variable. As a feminist, I couldn’t help but sneak in the cheeky observation that the ‘female axis’ (X) was the independent one, whereas the ‘male axis’ (Y) was dependent 😉
