Male biology students consistently underestimate female peers, study finds

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/uow-mbs021116.php

Public Release: 11-Feb-2016
Male biology students consistently underestimate female peers, study finds
Male students ranked their male classmates as more knowledgeable about course content, even over better-performing female students
University of Washington

Female college students are more likely to abandon studies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines than their male classmates, and new research from the University of Washington suggests that those male peers may play a key role in undermining their confidence.

Published this week in the journal PLOS ONE, the study* found that males enrolled in undergraduate biology classes consistently ranked their male classmates as more knowledgeable about course content, even over better-performing female students.

The over-ranking equated to males ranking their male peers smarter by three-quarters of a GPA point* than their equally-performing female classmates, showing what researchers say amounts to a clear and consistent gender bias. Female students, on the other hand, repeatedly showed no significant bias in whom they picked as knowledgeable.

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Even after accounting for differences in performance and outspokenness, male students got more recognition from other males than their female peers did, and the finding was consistent across 11 different class surveys. For an outspoken female student to be nominated by males at the same level as a male student, her performance would need to be more than three-quarters of a GPA point* higher than the males.

"Using UW's standard grade scale, that's like believing a male with a B and a female with an A* have the same ability," said co-lead author Sarah Eddy, who participated in the research as a UW postdoctoral biology researcher and is now a research scientist at the University of Texas, Austin.

On the other hand, females nominated their male and female peers almost equitably across all the surveys, after controlling for differences in performance and outspokenness. The researchers determined that the female bias was so small it could have arisen by chance, and they estimate that gender bias among male students was 19 times stronger than among females. The top three most-nominated students in all classes were male, even though there were also outspoken female students in the class with the same grades.

The findings are troubling, said Eddy, since peer support is a key factor in retaining women in STEM fields.

"To stay in STEM you have to believe you can do it, and one of the things that can convince you of that is your peers saying you can do it," she said.

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tags: discrimination