Young Girls Believe That They're Smarter Than Boys
LatestBy the age of four, girls in one study thought their own gender was “cleverer” and better behaved — now that boys are the disadvantaged ones, will people actually take sexism seriously?
The BBC reports that researchers from Britain’s University of Kent gave children between four and 10 a variety of statements like, “this child is really clever” and “this child always finishes their work.” The kids were supposed to point to a picture of a boy or a girl depending on who they thought better matched the statement. Girls of all ages “said girls were cleverer, performed better, were more focused and were better behaved or more respectful,” while boys started out giving evenly divided answers, but as they got older came to agree with girls. Another study tested kids’ math, reading, and writing skills — one group was told beforehand that boys usually did worse on the test, while the other was not. Unsurprisingly, boys in the first group did perform significantly worse.