Awesome Math Girls

Dr. Ismael Mourifié is an assistant professor of Economics at the University of Toronto in Canada, and he recently won the Polanyi Prize for research on girls’ aversion to math.  Dr. Mourifié noticed at his school in Ivory Coast that girls were a minority and attriting fast in his school’s math program. Dr. Mourifié is also a believer that math is not an innate skill and anyone can be good at math if they have a growth mindset (and I completely agree!).

Dr. Mourifié’s research is primarily driven by gender imbalance in STEM jobs in Canada (22% for females) and that if more girls study mathematics, which is a common language for S, T, and E, then it could reduce the gender wage gap over time. “The dream is to have some impact on the future and have more girls passionate about STEM and having more choice (of careers) in STEM,” says Mourifié. “The ultimate goal is the reduction of inequality between men and women.

Dr. Mourifié believes that many girls develop a fear of math, the term he coins as, “mathematophobia”. He believes that girls avoid math as they progress through school and a lot of time girls’ math anxiety is imparted on them by elementary school teachers, many of whom are females (84%) and not graduates in STEM fields.

I appreciate that Dr. Mourifie is highlighting and researching math education-related challenges in Canada, and I am very encouraged by it.

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