RantCrush Top 5: January 30, 2017

A U.S. survey has shown that girls lose faith in themselves at around six years old. The study, published in the journal Science, included 400 children between ages five and seven, and looked into how the kids view themselves. This was tested by reading the children a story about someone who is “really, really smart” and then letting the children guess who the protagonist is from a range of pictures of men and women. At five years old, boys and girls equally picked their own gender. But by age six, girls were more likely to pick a picture of a man.

Another one of the experiments involved two board games. The children were told that one was for children that are “really, really smart” and another one was for children that try “really, really hard.” Guess what? Girls enjoyed the game for children that “try hard,” but were significantly less likely to say that they enjoyed the one for “really smart” kids.

So sad.My daughters tell me that girls have to pretend to be less clever than they are or no one will like them… https://t.co/Oq4LJSjm1g

— Nicky Wallis (@NLWallis) January 27, 2017

This is a pretty sad and disheartening revelation, as it shows that the notion that women are not as smart or successful as men becomes ingrained so early. And after age six, it will only get harder.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.