This was completed for our GTE class. It is an overview of the special population of gifted females.

1. Gifted Females/Chapter 14
Debra Cannon
Krystalyn May
La Chanda Solomon
Brandi Tryan

2. History and Present Day

3. Women and Achievement in
History
 The education of gifted girls and women has been a low
priority throughout history
 This has led to wholesale female underachievement
 Some girls are still discouraged by peers, family, and
sometimes teachers and counselors
 Women's educational opportunities were intentionally
limited by other educators and psychologists

4. Women and Achievement in
History
 Women's education back in history was designed in a
way to that they could "serve" their men
 By "serve" I mean taking care of the children, the home,
and to please their men.
 Freud thought women were passive.
 Jung thought women were emotional and less rational
and logical than men
 G. Stanley Hall, psychologist and educator thought that
women should aim at nothing but motherhood
 Thorndike, a psychologist and educator thought that
there was nothing wrong with women getting an
education as long as they were educated in careers
involving nurturing roles

5. Women and Achievement in
History
 Survey results of 544 graduates of highly selective gifted
females(1910-1979) who had careers, almost half (46%)
teachers, (28%) social workers, (10%) physicians or
engineers, (73%) were homemakers
 After WWll women were forced to leave their jobs as
scientists. Colleges and Universities no longer recruited
them. They were supposed to be mothers, not
scientists.
 Women only from wealthy families were permitted to
study science.
 Very few women were employed in medicine, law,
business, government, art, serious media, or music until
the 1960's

6. Present Status of Women
 Gifted women in this country are still functioning as
underachieving adults
 There is still a difference in salaries, although they have
decreased slightly
 2007 statistics released by the Bureau of Labor said that
full time women earned 80% as much as full time men,
up from 1998(75%), and up considerably from 1979
(62%).

7. Present Status of Women
 YouTube Video- Aspire to Inspire:Women In Science
 Watch and Enjoy!
 GIRL POWER!
 http://youtu.be/qv-ZNyFVat4

8. Sex and Gender Differences
 Sex differences – biological
 Gender differences – sociocultural
 Separating the two provides a basis
for determining the extent to which
the underachievement of women
can be modified.

9. Two different models used in
looking at career differences
between males and females:
 Deficit Model – formal and informal
exclusion. Women receive fewer
opportunities for successful careers.
 Difference Model - assumes there
are deeply ingrained differences in
behavior, outlook, and goals
between men and women.

10.  Biological differences – hyperkinesis
(abnormally high levels of physical
activity) is found in boys much more
frequently than in girls.
 Sociocultural differences – gender
stereotypes. Pink/blue to identify
baby gender.

11.  Characteristics considered “masculine”
are also typical of successful people.
Aggressiveness, ambitiousness,
assertiveness, competitiveness.
 Characteristics considered “feminine” are
associated with mothering, nurturant,
female-dominated occupations. Affection,
compassion, gentleness, understanding.

12.  Sexualization of girls. Sex is a powerful
distraction from learning. In one study
(Choate & Curry), college women were
asked to try on either a swimsuit or
sweater, look at themselves in the mirror
privately, and then complete a math
exam. The “sweater women” achieved
much higher scores than the ones who
tried on swimsuits.

13. Can gifted girls overcome the impact of families,
schools, and sex-role stereotyped literature and
media on their own self- perceptions?
 If we are to help girls, we have to start
early. One study found that by first grade,
girls believed they were less competent in
athletics and mathematics. Boys had
higher competence beliefs in their
athletic and mathematical abilities. Only
with high levels of awareness and
deliberate “counterconditioning” will we
be able to overcome these gender
stereotypes.

14. Mathematics abilities
 About equal in childhood then
differences widen becoming
prominent by middle school.
Research by Rimm indicated that
enjoying math was the variable
that differentiated the women
doctors and surgeons from those
who selected nursing careers.
Because equal number of males
and females do not continue in
mathematics careers, Spelke
(2005) concludes that we must look
beyond cognitive abilities to
societal reasons for not retaining
women in math-related careers.

15. Cultural stereotypes
 Parental expectations make a difference
in perpetuating cultural stereotypes. The
cultural stereotype that females are not
as capable in math and science adversely
affects girls’ estimates of their own
talents. Improvements can be made with
retraining and positive environments.
Major societal commitments must be
made to dispel the long-held stereotype
that women are less capable in
mathematics and mathematical sciences
than men.

16. No ability is totally and
exclusively related to gender.
 Research reports are based on average
scores on tests involving large numbers of
students. There is always near-total
overlap in the distributions of male and
female abilities and achievement-test
scores. Test results which favor males can
have the effect of perpetuating
“stereotype threat”. We need to inform
gifted girls of this issue to help them to
perform at their best on tests, in their
coursework, and in their careers.

17. Differences in Expectations,
Achievement Orientation, and
Aspirations
 Family, school, and peer expectations can
encourage or discourage a strong achievement
orientation, risk taking, independence, and
self-confident in girls.
 These expectations can lead to low or high
aspirations that would result, respectively, in
underachievement or lifetime high
achievement.

18. Family Expectations and
Identification
 In regard to career aspirations, many researchers
concluded that career modeling by mothers
motivates females to have higher education and
career aspirations.
 Father’s direct expectations of their daughters
also influence female achievement.
 Radin and Epstein(1975) found that father’s
short- and long- term academic expectations of
their daughters were positively correlated with
measures of the girls’ intellectual functioning.

19.  Helson(1971), as noted earlier, found that
creative mathematicians tended to be oldest
daughters who identified with their fathers.
 Bardwick(1971) also emphasized the importance
of girls’ identification with their fathers in order
to learn important achievement traits such as
independence and self-esteem.
 Callahan, Cunningham, and Plucker(1994) also
found family influence to be important in
helping gifted girls cope with barriers to their
achievement.

20. Peer Expectations
 From early adolescence, and sometimes before, peer
expectations play a strong part in directing the
achievement of gifted girls. Because high intelligence and
an achievement orientation sometimes are considered
masculine characteristics, girls risk being considered
“unfeminine” if they become too involved in school
achievement.
 Kramer(1996) found that gifted girls deliberately
underestimated their abilities for fear that exposure of
their high abilities would cause peers to view them as
socially less competent or as unattractive.
 The successful women managed their peer pressure by
finding peer groups that shared their interests and
respected their intelligence.

21.  As to peer pressure on girls who participate in
gifted programing, Read(1996) found that girls
tended to drop out of gifted programming more
than boys.
 According to Horner’s (1972) classic “fear of
success” syndrome, girls suppress high
achievement and success because of their fear of
“failing as a female.” In one pertinent finding,
Horner concluded that females who received
career encouragement from their male friends
were less likely to experience fear of success.

22. School Expectations
 From nursery school onward, there has been
continuous documentation of school biases
that deter an achievement orientation for
females.
 Seigle and Reis (1998) found that teachers
concluded that female students worked
harder and produced better-quality work;
however, girls did not receive higher grades
than boys.

23.  The American Association of University Women( AAUW)
report How Schools Shortchange Girls focused on some
critical disadvantages with which girls cope in public
schools:
• Girls receive less attention than boys do in the classroom
• African American girls get even less attention than other
girls.
• Sexual harassment of girls by boys is increasing.
• Girls are included less in the subject matter of textbooks.
• Girls are advancing in math but declining in science.
• Boys get more SAT-based scholarships than girls do even
when SAT scores are the same.
• The decrease in girls’ self-esteem during school years is 3
times greater than that of boys.
• Only half of girls take pride in their schoolwork.
• Teachers allow boys to try again, but tend to take over for
girls.

24. Self-Expectations
 Female aspirations and achievement orientation surely
are changing. This change includes altered self-
perceptions and self-expectations. If gifted females are
to develop their talents and make contributions to
society, they must acquire confidence and strong
achievement needs, and they must make plans for a
sound education.
 Research suggest four important factors that seem to be
inked to lower self-expectations and aspirations of
females:
1. a lower sense of competence
2. a tendency to attribute failures to oneself and
successes to external factors
3. lower achievement motivation
4. the “fear of success” syndrome

25. Low Sense of Competence
 Gifted girls seem to be extremely susceptible to the loss of confidence at
adolesence(Klein & Zhems, 1996)
 Reis (1989b) found that gifted girls were less likely to lose confidence in their
abilities if they were involved in gifted programs and numerous extracurricular
activities, compared with gifted girls who were not in such programs.
 Attributional Differences
 Females tend to attribute their successes to hard work or to luck, but their failures
to lack of ability.
 Low Achievement Motivation
 The need to achieve is a highly consistent personality trait that begins
developing as early as second grade.
 Lower achievement motivation persists more for gifted young women
compared with young men.
 Efforts to teach achievement motivation basically encourage the learner
to think as achievement-oriented individuals do: (1) value success and
achievement,(2) accept moderate risks,(3)set realistic and achievable
goals, and (4) feel confident that he or she can achieve these goals.

26. Reversing Understanding
 Schools must take the
leadership role when it comes
to fostering equal
development of young women
in comparison to the young
men of the gifted community
 The Trifocal Model (explained
in Ch. 12) is used to provide
guidelines to help teachers.

27. Steps in the Trifocal Model
1. Assessment
2. Communication between home and
school
3. Changing the expectations of
important others
4. Role model identification
5. Correcting skill deficiencies
6. Modifying reinforcements at home
and school

29. Step 1: Assessment At the
School Level
 Determines whether schools are providing the necessary
materials in order to ensure the success of females
 School district administrators, principals, teachers,
counselors, and others should ask a variety of questions
to determine what changes should be made. (see pg.
386-387 in textbook for specific questions)
 Based on the answers to these questions, schools can
begin to make changes to materials available,
counseling practices, parental education,
encouragement practices, rewards systems, and ways of
helping the girls understand their abilities

30. Assessments at the Student
Level
GOAL
 To determine the nature
and extent of the
student’s under
achievement
ACHIEVED BY…
 Tests
 Inventories
 Questioning
 observation

31. Step 2: Communication
GOAL
 To get parents,
teachers, and students
to work together
ACHIEVED BY
 Meeting to discuss issues
and exchange
information with respect
and without blame
 Ex: Send short notes
home covering a specific
topic and its rewards for
underachieving females
specifically ex. Pg 386

32. Step 3: Changing
Expectations
GOAL
 To help all people
involved to figure out
new levels of
achievements
 Must acquire an
expectation that gifted
females should be
preparing for high-level
careers
ACHIEVED BY
 Setting realistic goals
 Expressing confidence in
the child’s ability to set
goals and actually meet
the goals.
 Provide internships
 Have speakers from
local professional
women’s organizations

33. Step 4: Role Model
Identification
GOAL
 To find a positive role
model for gifted female
students
ACHIEVED BY
 Selecting achievement
oriented adult females
 Finding high achieving
female adults with
whom the students can
identify
 Providing opportunities
for female students to
shadow strong female
role models

34. Step 5: Correcting Skill
Deficiencies
GOAL
 To overcome and
prevent deficiencies
ACHIEVED BY
 Encouraging high school
girls to take the advanced
courses
 Encourage females to
receive tutoring
 Ensure that gifted girls
are helped in developing
autonomy, self-
confidence, a willingness
to compete, leadership,
resilience, and
assertiveness.

35. Step 6: Modifying Reinforcements
at Home and at School
GOAL
 To encourage behaviors
that are sufficient for
their careers.
ACHIEVED BY
 Changing the behaviors
reinforced in regards to
perfectionism, social
life, challenges,
appearance,
competition, careers,
and unconscious bias
 Explanation on next
slide

36. Recommendations for
parents and teachers in
regards to changing
reinforcements

37. Perfectionism
take the word ‘perfect’ out of
your vocabulary
Be clear that excellence is
expected
Make sure they understand that
everyone learns from mistakes.

38. Social Life
 Making and having friends can be a
positive experience
 Aloneness and independence are just as
valuable

39. Challenge
 Students who get all A’s aren’t always
eager to take harder classes.
 Explain to underachieving girls that we
would rather them take the risk of doing
harder work even if they aren’t
successful
 Remind them that excellent colleges
credit students who are taking more
difficult courses more than those who
take more basic courses.

40. Appearance
 We must refuse to emphasize appearance
 Reasonable neatness and looking nice are
acceptable values
 Too much praise about appearance, and not
enough interest in intellect and creativity, will
affect a girl’s perception of what is important.

41. Careers
 Mothers who are career women should not apologize for
her career
 Women educators should let the girls know that she is
proud of her career so that they will not assume that
she does the work just for the money
 Explain the benefits and importance of a woman having
a career
 Encourage the girls to develop a relationship with a
woman who likes her and is in love with her own life
and work.

42. Unconscious Bias
 Most difficult to change is male attitudes toward
females
 Must convince gifted boys to appreciate intelligent and
assertive females
 Explain that the best kind of relationship comes from
mutual respect
 Combined with the de-emphasis on appearance will help
both the male and female gifted students.

43. Summary of Chapter

44. Possible take-aways
 Make some type of reference card using information from
this PDF
http://www.sylviarimm.com/newsletters/Newsletter%2019
.1.pdf
 Maybe we can create a page with qr codes that take the
teachers to websites that provide resources for working
with underachieving female students.
 World’s most inspiring women…Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/17/role-model-oprah-
winfrey-angelina-michelle-obama-forbes-woman-power-
women-jk-rowling.html
 Greatest women of all time
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/g514/greatest-
women-in-history/
 Movie trailer- He named me Malala