G Power What has changed for women-and what hasn't by HARBOUR FRASER HODDER lustration by ANNIE BISSETT HEN DAN KINDLON watches since the early 198os. He began to think of them as "alpha girls the tigers lay softball, he sees These girls-Kindlon uses the term because his research fo- the legacy of feminism for girls. cuses on female development up to age 21, the period covered by My daughters concentrating on pediatric medicine--were not the self-loathing, melancholic itching the ball, and this other girl teens at risk portrayed in such former bestsellers as Schoolgirls: just slams into her, slides under, "he Young Women, Self-Esteem and the Confidence Gap(Peggy Orenstein) recalls. " Julia got hurt a little bit, she Failing at Faimess: How America's Schools Cheat Girls(Myra and David got scraped up, but it was an experi- Sadker), and Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Sches of Adolescent Girls(Mary ence that used to be exclusively the province of men and boys- Pipher). Girls today "take it for granted that it is their due to get up and get back in the game, brush your tears off, and ignore the over fertility control, equal educational and athletic access, ore ip to get knocked down, and then you've got to pick yourself back equal rights, Kindlon They never had to fight those battl blood. She was kind of proud of herself afterwards. It was a gal job discrimination. "As a result, "girls are starting to make the character-building experience that very few girls growing up in psychological shift, the inner transformation, that Simone de an earlier generation had a chance to have Now almost all of Beauvoir predicted "in 1949 when she wrote, in The Second Sex, Harvard School of Public Health. The more he coached his Recognizing t e] will arrive at complete economic and them have that chance” "sooner or later [wome Kindlon is a clinical psychologist and adjunct lecturer at the social equality, which will bring about an inner metamorphosis. ew psychology was necessary to describe youngest daughters team, the more he understood he was ob- his daughters' generation, Kindlon studied more than goo girls wi ng a new generation of girls and young women. "People and boys across the United States and Canada and wrote about that girls aren't co e and don't enjoy winning his findings in Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and have never gone to a game and watched he says with a laugh. How She Is Changing the World(2006). This new "girl power"is char "My own daughters are so different from the girls I grew up acterized by what Kindlon calls an"emancipated confidence with, in terms of the things they think they can do. "Linking that is raising self-esteem, reducing depression, and altering gen those observations with accumulating data that show girls out- der roles among girls and young women. performing boys in grades, honors, and high-school graduation "Alpha girls"did not appear overnight, however. A century of rates-and with the historic reversal in U.S. college enroll- social and economic change first tipped and then leveled the ments(58 percent today are women, the 1970 percentage for playing field, creating the circumstances for unprecedented men)-convinced Kindlon that todays American girls are pro- gains for women in education and the labor force. These gains foundly different from their mothers. "They were born into appear across socioeconomic strata, but they are less widespread a different world, he says of girls and young women born among low-income and minority girls. To rectify the disparities, 34 JANUARY- FEBRUARY 2008 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746
34 January - February 2008 hen dan kindlon watches the Tigers play softball, he sees the legacy of feminism for girls. “My daughter’s concentrating on catching the ball, and this other girl just slams into her, slides under,” he recalls. “Julia got hurt a little bit, she got scraped up, but it was an experience that used to be exclusively the province of men and boys— to get knocked down, and then you’ve got to pick yourself back up and get back in the game, brush your tears o≠, and ignore the blood. She was kind of proud of herself afterwards. It was a character-building experience that very few girls growing up in an earlier generation had a chance to have. Now almost all of them have that chance.” Kindlon is a clinical psychologist and adjunct lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health. The more he coached his youngest daughter’s team, the more he understood he was observing a new generation of girls and young women. “People who say that girls aren’t competitive and don’t enjoy winning have never gone to a game and watched!” he says with a laugh. “My own daughters are so di≠erent from the girls I grew up with, in terms of the things they think they can do.” Linking those observations with accumulating data that show girls outperforming boys in grades, honors, and high-school graduation rates—and with the historic reversal in U.S. college enrollments (58 percent today are women, the 1970 percentage for men)—convinced Kindlon that today’s American girls are profoundly di≠erent from their mothers. “They were born into a di≠erent world,” he says of girls and young women born since the early 1980s. He began to think of them as “alpha girls.” These girls—Kindlon uses the term because his research focuses on female development up to age 21, the period covered by pediatric medicine—were not the self-loathing, melancholic teens at risk portrayed in such former bestsellers as Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem and the Confidence Gap (Peggy Orenstein), Failing at Fairness: How America’s Schools Cheat Girls (Myra and David Sadker), and Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls (Mary Pipher). Girls today “take it for granted that it is their due to get equal rights,” Kindlon says. “They never had to fight those battles over fertility control, equal educational and athletic access, or illegal job discrimination.” As a result, “girls are starting to make the psychological shift, the inner transformation, that Simone de Beauvoir predicted” in 1949 when she wrote, in The Second Sex, “sooner or later [women] will arrive at complete economic and social equality, which will bring about an inner metamorphosis.” Recognizing that a new psychology was necessary to describe his daughters’ generation, Kindlon studied more than 900 girls and boys across the United States and Canada and wrote about his findings in Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and How She Is Changing the World (2006). This new “girl power” is characterized by what Kindlon calls an “emancipated confidence” that is raising self-esteem, reducing depression, and altering gender roles among girls and young women. “Alpha girls” did not appear overnight, however. A century of social and economic change first tipped and then leveled the playing field, creating the circumstances for unprecedented gains for women in education and the labor force. These gains appear across socioeconomic strata, but they are less widespread among low-income and minority girls. To rectify the disparities, Girl Power W What has changed for women—and what hasn’t by HARBOUR FRASER HODDER Illustrations by ANNIE BISSETT
Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-57462
ome"alphas"are creating innovative programs as part of a "girls career and family aspirations) and in 2005 surveyed poo girls and movement"to make such progress available to all young women. 228 boys in the sixth through twelfth grades in a range of urban Of course, once alpha girls enter the workforce and begin fami- suburban, and rural U.S. and Canadian schools. He then inter ers did; how they will cope with these challenges is uncertain, tween 1984 and 1988. These were alpha girls who had attained a but they are already changing wage and marriage patterns in un- 3. 8 or better grade-point average and at least one leadership posi expected ways tion,pursued 10 or more hours of extracurriculars weekly, and scored high on measures of"achievement motivation." Alpha Psych 101 Kindlon found signs of a new "alph "THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DEMONS that used to affect girls and girls. There were no sex differences in depressive symptoms, no women in this country just don't affect today's girls in the same drop in self-esteem across the six grades, and no lack of way, "Kindlon asserts In the 1g8os and early gos, Carol Gilligan confidence By tenth grade, in fact, the girls he surveyed had higher (formerly Graham professor of gender studies at Harvard Gradu- self-esteem than boys, and alphas had significantly higher self-es- ate School of Education and now a professor at New York Uni- teem than non-alphas. Lower socioeconomic status tended to ersity) and other feminist psychologists wrote that girls in their lower self-esteem scores for both sexes, irrespective of race or teens compromise their authenticity to fit gender roles, thereby ethnicity, but Kindlon interviewed many "inner-city alphas" "losing their voice. "In 1992, influential American Association of the phenomenon is not confined to"elites "(Consistent with p University Women(AAUW)research on late-198os data on girls vious research, he did find higher rates of anxiety born in the 1g7os found that girls' self-esteem plunged in middle than boys-perhaps because girls"want to get things done,"he school, compared to boys, and that classroom sexism(such as speculates, although he notes that biological factors could be in- teachers'calling on boys more than girls, or more competitive volved In either case, he cautions against overemphasizing the than cooperative learning)was a cause. The AAUW report rec- anxiety scores, because boys may underreport their own anxiety. ognized positive trends, such as young women's ascent in college Loss of voice"may be a thing of the past, as Kindlon suggest enrollment, while recommending correctives for the continu- but gender pressures persist, says Wendy Luttrell, Aronson associ- ing shortfalls ate professor in human development and education: "We cant talk a girls are created in large numbers when the society that about how girls are doing today without talking about boys and they are born into has sufficient equal opportunity, Kindlon says: girls in relation to each other. " As a feminist ethnographer who ana- "It wasn't until the early to mid '8os-when schools really lyzes gender, race, and class in educational settings, she believes started to get serious about Title IX, when women first began to kids today, in fact, are still "incredibly constrained by gender. She outnumber men in college, when women began moving into recently observed such forces in action at the close of her youngest leadership roles, such as Congress, in significant numbers-that daughter's summer college-prep program. The karaoke competi- societal conditions had changed enough to permit the alpha girl tion between sex-segregated groups was "a Saturday Night Live mir explosion. He set out to discover how Beauvoir's"inner meta- icry of what gender roles in contemporary society look like,"she re- morphosis" has changed girls' psychology in the years since the ports. The girls performed"sexy-but-cute Britney Spears acts, AAUW report while the boys presented aggressive, sexualized, hip-hop dance A a girls don t identify with a passive-feminine sex role, yet maintain"female"skills like ocial networking. They also know how to do things that only men and boys traditionally did, such as"channel their aggression in a competitive situation--not to get too mad, but to get mad enough so you can play harder-and to compete and to enjoy winning He knew that past and recent research in a variety of fields numbers. "Each group played off the extreme of the other, "she had already revealed gender differences in mental illness: girls notes, wishing the hypermasculine and hyperfeminine perfor and women have twice mens risk for depression and mances had been far less stereotypical, with"both boys and girls orders, while boys and men are twice as likely to suffer sub- crossing what we consider to be "male'and'female'roles. stance-use disorders and schizophrenia. Some theories attribute The alpha generation may yet fulfill that wish. "Girls are now his depression/anxiety gender gap, which appears in adoles- able to play more roles, "says Kindlon. Alpha girls don't identify cence, to differences in the biology of sex hormones; other expla- with a passive-feminine sex role, yet maintain"female"skills like nations focus on "gender socialization. "Investigators have lo- social networking. They also know how to do things that only cated numerous gender-related risk factors for depression, men and boys traditionally did, such as"channel their aggression including passive-feminine sex-role identification, helpless cop- in a competitive situation--not to get too mad, but to get mad ing styles, and low self-esteem. Body dissatisfaction is also key: enough so you can play harder-and to compete and to enjoy in adolescence, boys gain muscle while girls gain fat--just as winning."Fathers play a big part in this psychology, Kindlon body-image pressures intensify adds. He has found that alphas' dads are more involved in their To assess the psychological and social health of a new genera- daughters' lives than non-alphas'dads. They can pass along tion of girls, Kindlon designed the Adolescent Life Survey to "male ways of being, "such as rougher play and greater risk-tak measure 1g dimensions of teen experience(from mental health to and"male ways of thinki 36 JANUARY- FEBRUARY 2008 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746
36 January - February 2008 some “alphas” are creating innovative programs as part of a “girls’ movement” to make such progress available to all young women. Of course, once alpha girls enter the workforce and begin families, they will no doubt encounter the same tradeo≠s their mothers did; how they will cope with these challenges is uncertain, but they are already changing wage and marriage patterns in unexpected ways. Alpha Psych 101 “The psychological demons that used to a≠ect girls and women in this country just don’t a≠ect today’s girls in the same way,” Kindlon asserts. In the 1980s and early ’90s, Carol Gilligan (formerly Graham professor of gender studies at Harvard Graduate School of Education and now a professor at New York University) and other feminist psychologists wrote that girls in their teens compromise their authenticity to fit gender roles, thereby “losing their voice.” In 1992, influential American Association of University Women (AAUW) research on late-1980s data on girls born in the 1970s found that girls’ self-esteem plunged in middle school, compared to boys’, and that classroom sexism (such as teachers’ calling on boys more than girls, or more competitive than cooperative learning) was a cause. The AAUW report recognized positive trends, such as young women’s ascent in college enrollment, while recommending correctives for the continuing shortfalls. Alpha girls are created in large numbers when the society that they are born into has su∞cient equal opportunity, Kindlon says: “It wasn’t until the early to mid ’80s—when schools really started to get serious about Title IX, when women first began to outnumber men in college, when women began moving into leadership roles, such as Congress, in significant numbers—that societal conditions had changed enough to permit the alpha girl explosion.” He set out to discover how Beauvoir’s “inner metamorphosis” has changed girls’ psychology in the years since the AAUW report. He knew that past and recent research in a variety of fields had already revealed gender di≠erences in mental illness: girls and women have twice men’s risk for depression and anxiety disorders, while boys and men are twice as likely to su≠er substance-use disorders and schizophrenia. Some theories attribute this depression/anxiety gender gap, which appears in adolescence, to di≠erences in the biology of sex hormones; other explanations focus on “gender socialization.” Investigators have located numerous gender-related risk factors for depression, including passive-feminine sex-role identification, helpless coping styles, and low self-esteem. Body dissatisfaction is also key: in adolescence, boys gain muscle while girls gain fat—just as body-image pressures intensify. To assess the psychological and social health of a new generation of girls, Kindlon designed the Adolescent Life Survey to measure 19 dimensions of teen experience (from mental health to career and family aspirations) and in 2005 surveyed 700 girls and 228 boys in the sixth through twelfth grades in a range of urban, suburban, and rural U.S. and Canadian schools. He then interviewed the top 113 high-school girls, born for the most part between 1984 and 1988. These were alpha girls who had attained a 3.8 or better grade-point average and at least one leadership position, pursued 10 or more hours of extracurriculars weekly, and scored high on measures of “achievement motivation.” Kindlon found signs of a new “alpha psychology” among all the girls. There were no sex di≠erences in depressive symptoms, no drop in self-esteem across the six grades, and no lack of confidence. By tenth grade, in fact, the girls he surveyed had higher self-esteem than boys, and alphas had significantly higher self-esteem than non-alphas. Lower socioeconomic status tended to lower self-esteem scores for both sexes, irrespective of race or ethnicity, but Kindlon interviewed many “inner-city alphas”— the phenomenon is not confined to “elites.” (Consistent with previous research, he did find higher rates of anxiety among girls than boys—perhaps because girls “want to get things done,” he speculates, although he notes that biological factors could be involved. In either case, he cautions against overemphasizing the anxiety scores, because boys may underreport their own anxiety.) “Loss of voice” may be a thing of the past, as Kindlon suggests, but gender pressures persist, says Wendy Luttrell, Aronson associate professor in human development and education: “We can’t talk about how girls are doing today without talking about boys and girls in relation to each other.” As a feminist ethnographer who analyzes gender, race, and class in educational settings, she believes kids today, in fact, are still “incredibly constrained” by gender. She recently observed such forces in action at the close of her youngest daughter’s summer college-prep program. The karaoke competition between sex-segregated groups was “a Saturday Night Live mimicry of what gender roles in contemporary society look like,” she reports. The girls performed “sexy-but-cute Britney Spears acts,” while the boys presented aggressive, sexualized, hip-hop dance numbers. “Each group played o≠ the extreme of the other,” she notes, wishing the hypermasculine and hyperfeminine performances had been far less stereotypical, with “both boys and girls crossing what we consider to be ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles.” The alpha generation may yet fulfill that wish. “Girls are now able to play more roles,” says Kindlon. Alpha girls don’t identify with a passive-feminine sex role, yet maintain “female” skills like social networking. They also know how to do things that only men and boys traditionally did, such as “channel their aggression in a competitive situation—not to get too mad, but to get mad enough so you can play harder—and to compete and to enjoy winning.” Fathers play a big part in this psychology, Kindlon adds. He has found that alphas’ dads are more involved in their daughters’ lives than non-alphas’ dads. They can pass along “male ways of being,” such as rougher play and greater risk-taking, and “male ways of thinking.” lpha girls don’t identify with a passive-feminine sex role, yet maintain “female” skills like social networking. They also know how to do things that only men and boys traditionally did, such as “channel their aggression in a competitive situation—not to get too mad, Abut to get mad enough so you can play harder—and to compete and to enjoy winning
This"hybrid"self, an"androgynous"personality incorporating needed the college advantage, and school districts'new"mar- spects of both parents, is a cornerstone of alpha psychology, he riage bars"against married female teachers made teaching de believes. The more androgynous girls in his study had higher grees less valuable to women. less promiscuous sex and substance abuse. Because they can get this huge spike of guys coming back from Europe and A choose from what feminist psychologists call" separate"tradi- Goldin for every woman. The GI Bill enabled men from many tionally masculine)or"connected"(traditionally feminine) styles campus of being in the world, they have a psychological advantage. "Girls age groups to attend college at the same time, bolstering male are better adapted, he says. "Theyre more flexible and have enrollment until after the Korean War. More women went as more skill. Boys havent changed as much-or haven,'t been in- well, because college benefits often included "your M.R.S., duced as much to play a variety of roles notes goldin. Then came vietnam-and draft deferment. Be What girls are saying, adds Kindlon, is, "I have flexibility that cause more draftable men went to and stayed in college, male no other woman has ever had in history, or certainly not in any college graduation rates peaked for men born in the late 194os numbers, and I can play any role-Bring it on. "As one"hybrid" Women also have"a Vietnam effect, " Goldin says: "If boys go alpha(now at Harvard) told him, "I can wear high heels to my girls go. "Women were catching up, but the gender gap in B.A. linear algebra class. I can be sexy or I can be feminine, or I can completion in 1g70 still favored men, 57 percent to 43 percent also blow the boys away in this really tough class. I can do any. By 1972, girls in the top socioeconomic quartile achieved col thing. I don't see it as inconsistent to be wearing high heels. I lege parity despite the war. In two decades, by 1992, girls at every don't feel like I've got to dress down or dress like a man to do this socioeconomic level had a substantial lead. "Families are not dis class I can still be a woman and do all these other things criminating in resources for college in favor of boys as they may have done 75 years ago, "says Katz. And in the lower half of eco- The Rise of the Alpha Girl nomic distribution, the female-to-male ratio today is consider LoNG-EMERGING CHANGES in girls'access to higher education ably higher than in the upper half, a reversal of traditional pat and career options have prepared the ground for girls"emanci- terns. (The female advantage is larger among African Americans pated confidence. "In fact, aspects of alpha girlhood aren't new. and Hispanics than among whites, but the decline in the male Girls have been ahead of boys in pre-college education for well to-female ratio of undergraduates during the past 35 years is not over 100 years, "says Allison professor of economics Lawrence due primarily to changes in the ethnic mix of the college-aged Katz: in high-school graduation rates and in constituting two- pop pulation, write Goldin and Katz: "The bottom line is that the thirds of honors students. "What was striking in the past [was] new gender gap favoring females is found throughout the socio- that even though girls dominated boys through high school, boys economic distribution, "and it is similar for whites, all ethnic and were given greater opportunities to go on to college racial subgroups, and the entire U.S. population.) But as the women's movement dismantled labor-market barri Girls and young women today also invest in"their own human rs and an accelerating service economy expanded job opportu- capital" through what they choose to study in high school and nities in the 1970s, girls and young women expected and found college, due to dramatic changes in the labor market. Reflecting greater economic benefits from going to college. Add the Pill and on college majors, Goldin says, " The huge shift is out of educa- later marriage and first birth; subtract male incentives like the tion into business. "Until the 197os, most female undergradua GI Bill and disproportionate family support; multiply by behav- concentrated in literature, languages, and education, because ioral differences between girls and boys-and you have the for- most of the job opportunities were in teaching. In 1970, for exam- mula for exponential change, argue Lee professor of economics ple, 56 percent of working 30-to 34-year-old college-educated Claudia Goldin and Katz in a recent journal article, "The Home- women were teachers, compared to only 18 percent in 2000.By oming of American College Women: The Reversal of the Col- 2005, 50 percent of business majors were women. And"psychol lege Gender Gap"(with Ilyana Kuziemko, Ph D 'o7) ogy is the English of yesterday, "adds Goldin: 78 percent of psy- "It's never clear why the American press wakes up suddenly chology concentrators today are women. As their opportunities and says, 'Oh! Where are the men on campus?" The crossover changed, girls took more high-school science and math, achiev point was way back in 1g80--25 years ago! " says Goldin. Head- ing virtual parity by 1992 in numbers of courses(and narrowing lines imply that male college attendance has dropped, yet there's the math-score gap), while rem ahead in foreign languages been"enormous growth in B.A. completion rates"for both sexes, Meanwhile, boys' progress relative to girls'was less dramatic, she notes. The female rate of increase has been much higher, and even stagnating at lower socioeconomic levels In Goldin and however, so the ratios of the 1g6os and zos have fliy to s8 Katz's"cost-benefit analysis"of college returns, girls and young percent female nationwide today. What drove this dramatic women have lower"nonpecuniary costs" for college-prep and at catch-up and reversal? "The playing field and the labor market tendance than boys and young men, and they earn higher eco- are much more even,"says Katz. "Thats really what's changed. nomic benefits from going to college(women without college earn Surprisingly, however, the rise of women in higher education less than men without college). Moreover, note Goldin and Katz, began with college parity, early in the twentieth century. From boys have more learning disabilities, suffer from attention deficit 1g00 to the Crash of 1929, women went to college in numbers hyperactivity disorder at triple the rate of girls, engage in more ual to men. A fraction went to the"Seven Sisters, "but the ma- criminal activity, and spend less time on schoolwork than girls jority enrolled in public institutions, such as teachers'colleges School has also become harder and more competitive since and the large state institutions that accepted women. Then the 1983. when the National Commission on Excellence in Education Great Depression drove a wedge into parity. Unemployed men published A Nation at Risk, notes Dan Kindlon. The girls born at HARⅤ ARD MAGAS2NE37 Reprinted from Ha arvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746
Harvard Magazine 37 This “hybrid” self, an “androgynous” personality incorporating aspects of both parents, is a cornerstone of alpha psychology, he believes. The more androgynous girls in his study had higher self-esteem, were less anxious or self-conscious, and engaged in less promiscuous sex and substance abuse. Because they can choose from what feminist psychologists call “separate” (traditionally masculine) or “connected” (traditionally feminine) styles of being in the world, they have a psychological advantage. “Girls are better adapted,” he says. “They’re more flexible and have more skill. Boys haven’t changed as much—or haven’t been induced as much to play a variety of roles.” What girls are saying, adds Kindlon, is, “I have flexibility that no other woman has ever had in history, or certainly not in any numbers, and I can play any role—‘Bring it on.’” As one “hybrid” alpha (now at Harvard) told him, “I can wear high heels to my linear algebra class. I can be sexy or I can be feminine, or I can also blow the boys away in this really tough class. I can do anything. I don’t see it as inconsistent to be wearing high heels. I don’t feel like I’ve got to dress down or dress like a man to do this class. I can still be a woman and do all these other things.” The Rise of the Alpha Girl Long-emerging changes in girls’ access to higher education and career options have prepared the ground for girls’ “emancipated confidence.” In fact, aspects of alpha girlhood aren’t new. “Girls have been ahead of boys in pre-college education for well over 100 years,” says Allison professor of economics Lawrence Katz: in high-school graduation rates and in constituting twothirds of honors students. “What was striking in the past [was] that even though girls dominated boys through high school, boys were given greater opportunities to go on to college.” But as the women’s movement dismantled labor-market barriers and an accelerating service economy expanded job opportunities in the 1970s, girls and young women expected and found greater economic benefits from going to college. Add the Pill and later marriage and first birth; subtract male incentives like the GI Bill and disproportionate family support; multiply by behavioral di≠erences between girls and boys—and you have the formula for exponential change, argue Lee professor of economics Claudia Goldin and Katz in a recent journal article, “The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap” (with Ilyana Kuziemko, Ph.D. ’07). “It’s never clear why the American press wakes up suddenly and says, ‘Oh! Where are the men on campus?’ The crossover point was way back in 1980—25 years ago!” says Goldin. Headlines imply that male college attendance has dropped, yet there’s been “enormous growth in B.A. completion rates” for both sexes, she notes. The female rate of increase has been much higher, however, so the ratios of the 1960s and ’70s have flipped—to 58 percent female nationwide today. What drove this dramatic catch-up and reversal? “The playing field and the labor market are much more even,” says Katz. “That’s really what’s changed.” Surprisingly, however, the rise of women in higher education began with college parity, early in the twentieth century. From 1900 to the Crash of 1929, women went to college in numbers equal to men. A fraction went to the “Seven Sisters,” but the majority enrolled in public institutions, such as teachers’ colleges and the large state institutions that accepted women. Then the Great Depression drove a wedge into parity. Unemployed men needed the college advantage, and school districts’ new “marriage bars” against married female teachers made teaching degrees less valuable to women. Male-to-female ratios peaked in 1947, after World War II. “You get this huge spike of guys coming back from Europe and Asia,” Goldin says, when there were “two and a half men” on college campuses for every woman. The GI Bill enabled men from many age groups to attend college at the same time, bolstering male enrollment until after the Korean War. More women went as well, because college benefits often included “your M.R.S.,” notes Goldin. Then came Vietnam—and draft deferment. Because more draftable men went to and stayed in college, male college graduation rates peaked for men born in the late 1940s. Women also have “a Vietnam e≠ect,” Goldin says: “If boys go, girls go.” Women were catching up, but the gender gap in B.A. completion in 1970 still favored men, 57 percent to 43 percent. By 1972, girls in the top socioeconomic quartile achieved college parity despite the war. In two decades, by 1992, girls at every socioeconomic level had a substantial lead. “Families are not discriminating in resources for college in favor of boys as they may have done 75 years ago,” says Katz. And in the lower half of economic distribution, the female-to-male ratio today is considerably higher than in the upper half, a reversal of traditional patterns. (The female advantage is larger among African Americans and Hispanics than among whites, but the decline in the maleto-female ratio of undergraduates during the past 35 years is not due primarily to changes in the ethnic mix of the college-aged population, write Goldin and Katz: “The bottom line is that the new gender gap favoring females is found throughout the socioeconomic distribution,” and it is similar for whites, all ethnic and racial subgroups, and the entire U.S. population.) Girls and young women today also invest in “their own human capital” through what they choose to study in high school and college, due to dramatic changes in the labor market. Reflecting on college majors, Goldin says, “The huge shift is out of education into business.” Until the 1970s, most female undergraduates concentrated in literature, languages, and education, because most of the job opportunities were in teaching. In 1970, for example, 56 percent of working 30- to 34-year-old college-educated women were teachers, compared to only 18 percent in 2000. By 2005, 50 percent of business majors were women. And “psychology is the English of yesterday,” adds Goldin: 78 percent of psychology concentrators today are women. As their opportunities changed, girls took more high-school science and math, achieving virtual parity by 1992 in numbers of courses (and narrowing the math-score gap), while remaining ahead in foreign languages. Meanwhile, boys’ progress relative to girls’ was less dramatic, and even stagnating at lower socioeconomic levels. In Goldin and Katz’s “cost-benefit analysis” of college returns, girls and young women have lower “nonpecuniary costs” for college-prep and attendance than boys and young men, and they earn higher economic benefits from going to college (women without college earn less than men without college). Moreover, note Goldin and Katz, boys have more learning disabilities, su≠er from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at triple the rate of girls, engage in more criminal activity, and spend less time on schoolwork than girls. School has also become harder and more competitive since 1983, when the National Commission on Excellence in Education published A Nation at Risk, notes Dan Kindlon. The girls born at
that time and since"were starting to make the psychological Strong Women, Strong Girls hift predicted by Beauvoir, so they rose to the challenge, "he "A LOT OF THE HOPES of the feminist movement and the girls' ys. "Girls are doing the work and boys aren't--boys are playing programming movement are being realized, but there's a tremen- Grand Theft Auto "Kindlon once asked his youngest daughter, dous amount of work still to be done, particularly for girls with "Is it just that girls are smarter than boys?" And at age 11 she said, out educational or economic advantages, "says Lindsay Hyde 04, No, theyre not smarter, but they have more stamina, which I founder and executive director of Strong Women, Strong Girls think really does characterize it (SWSG), a nonprofit organization that fosters high aspirations Yet college-bound girls, despite their hard work, face stiffer and success skills among low-income minority girls by involving admissions competition than boys. A U.S. News analysis of a them with strong female role models. Hydes inspiration was her decade of data from 1, 400 colleges discovered that schools main- own mother, a Miami single mom who cut the tiled the tained gender balance by admitting girls at"drastically different bathroom floor, redid the electrical system, and"demonstrated rates"-on average 13 percentage points lower-than boys. for me that women could really do anything "When a number of state universities started becoming incredi- Keen to share her own experience with young girls, Hyde de bly female [7o percent or more], "explains Katz, "private univer- signed and taught a curriculum based on historic and contempo- sities started doing things that look like affirmative action for rary women at the local elementary school during her last semes- ys. Admissions officers basically said, "We were getting wor- ter of high school. When she couldn't find a girl-centered service ried about the gender mix, so we shaded things They're bring- opportunity at Harvard that fall, she used her curriculum to ing in on-the-margin guys who are less qualified than women in start a new afterschool program through Phillips Brooks House, order to maintain some gender balance. eginning with six undergraduate women and 3o girls from the Fertility control, meanwhile, has helped women achieve their third, fourth, and fifth grades at Roxbury and Mission Hill ele ambitions well beyond college. As Goldin and Katz argue in an- mentary schools. Seven years later, SWSG serves 400 mostly other journal article, "The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives African-American and Latina girls at 32 schools and community and Women,s Career and Marriage Decisions, "the birth-control centers in Boston and Pittsburgh, with 120 mentors from seven oill, approved in 196o but made available to college-age colleges and universities. (For her work, Hyde recently received single women only in the late 1g6os and early 7os, he Samuel S Beard Award for Greatest Public Service by an In- allowed young women to delay both marriage and dividual 35 or Under, one of the five Jefferson Awards con childbearing while they pursued graduate and ferred annually by the American Institute for Public Service professional school. Women now earn the major- To offset the effects of poverty, gender stereotyping, and ity of M.D., D.D. S, and J D. professional degrees, low expectations that can undermine girls'academic and the majority of all postgraduate degrees confidence and direct them to narrow education and career For the first time in history, females have complete options, SwSG combines the study of diverse female role fertility control, which means they aren't getting preg models with team-mentoring, field trips, and community nant, dropping out, having babies, "notes neuropsychiatrist service. Two or three undergraduate mentors lead 1o to 12 Louann Brizendine. a former Harvard Medical School resi- girls in weekly lessons built around a particular skill, such dent and faculty member who is the author of The Female Brain as critical thinking. Sessions begin by and founder and director of the women's Mood and Hor ading the biography of a woman ex- none Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco amplifying that skill, such as Sally She believes that the "alpha" phenomenon also involves"a Ride. the first American female as- aradigm shift in the way parents think about their girls' op tronaut, in order to"paint a pic tions in the world, "in part because unwanted pregnancy is ture of the steps she needed to out of the picture. "Theres a whole generation of girls take to go from being 1o years old whose creativity and intellect are being supported by their fami lies. Their mothers and fathers are cheering them on, coaching them, and setting the bar high, so that their ambition can soar and take them high. " With a level playing field, then, in family resources, higher ed ucation, economic op- portunity, and fertil- ity control, a critical mass of young women have achieved-and are achieving-the his toric potential of their sex 38 JANUARY- FEBRUARY 2008 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746
that time and since “were starting to make the psychological shift predicted by Beauvoir, so they rose to the challenge,” he says. “Girls are doing the work and boys aren’t—boys are playing Grand Theft Auto.” Kindlon once asked his youngest daughter, “‘Is it just that girls are smarter than boys?’ And at age 11 she said, ‘No, they’re not smarter, but they have more stamina,’ which I think really does characterize it.” Yet college-bound girls, despite their hard work, face sti≠er admissions competition than boys. A U.S. News analysis of a decade of data from 1, 400 colleges discovered that schools maintained gender balance by admitting girls at “drastically di≠erent rates”—on average 13 percentage points lower—than boys. “When a number of state universities started becoming incredibly female [70 percent or more],” explains Katz, “private universities started doing things that look like a∞rmative action for boys. Admissions o∞cers basically said, ‘We were getting worried about the gender mix, so we shaded things.’ They’re bringing in on-the-margin guys who are less qualified than women in order to maintain some gender balance.” Fertility control, meanwhile, has helped women achieve their ambitions well beyond college. As Goldin and Katz argue in another journal article, “The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women’s Career and Marriage Decisions,” the birth-control pill, approved in 1960 but made available to college-age single women only in the late 1960s and early ’70s, allowed young women to delay both marriage and childbearing while they pursued graduate and professional school. Women now earn the majority of M.D., D.D.S., and J.D. professional degrees, and the majority of all postgraduate degrees. “For the first time in history, females have complete fertility control, which means they aren’t getting pregnant, dropping out, having babies,” notes neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, a former Harvard Medical School resident and faculty member who is the author of The Female Brain and founder and director of the Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco. She believes that the “alpha” phenomenon also involves “a paradigm shift in the way parents think about their girls’ options in the world,” in part because unwanted pregnancy is out of the picture. “There’s a whole generation of girls whose creativity and intellect are being supported by their families. Their mothers and fathers are cheering them on, coaching them, and setting the bar high, so that their ambition can soar and take them high.” With a level playing field, then, in family resources, higher education, economic opportunity, and fertility control, a critical mass of girls and young women have achieved—and are achieving—the historic potential of their sex. Strong Women, Strong Girls? “A lot of the hopes of the feminist movement and the girls’ programming movement are being realized, but there’s a tremendous amount of work still to be done, particularly for girls without educational or economic advantages,” says Lindsay Hyde ’04, founder and executive director of Strong Women, Strong Girls (SWSG), a nonprofit organization that fosters high aspirations and success skills among low-income minority girls by involving them with strong female role models. Hyde’s inspiration was her own mother, a Miami single mom who cut the grass, tiled the bathroom floor, redid the electrical system, and “demonstrated for me that women could really do anything!” Keen to share her own experience with young girls, Hyde designed and taught a curriculum based on historic and contemporary women at the local elementary school during her last semester of high school. When she couldn’t find a girl-centered service opportunity at Harvard that fall, she used her curriculum to start a new afterschool program through Phillips Brooks House, beginning with six undergraduate women and 30 girls from the third, fourth, and fifth grades at Roxbury and Mission Hill elementary schools. Seven years later, SWSG serves 400 mostly African-American and Latina girls at 32 schools and community centers in Boston and Pittsburgh, with 120 mentors from seven colleges and universities. (For her work, Hyde recently received the Samuel S. Beard Award for Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 or Under, one of the five Je≠erson Awards conferred annually by the American Institute for Public Service.) To o≠set the e≠ects of poverty, gender stereotyping, and low expectations that can undermine girls’ academic confidence and direct them to narrow education and career options, SWSG combines the study of diverse female role models with team-mentoring, field trips, and community service. Two or three undergraduate mentors lead 10 to 12 girls in weekly lessons built around a particular skill, such as critical thinking. Sessions begin by reading the biography of a woman exemplifying that skill, such as Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut, in order to “paint a picture of the steps she needed to take to go from being 10 years old 38 January - February 2008