Stereotype threat

I often think of myself in relation to my close friend Allie, who is the yang to my yin. We have contrastive world views and very different senses of humor. Just about the only thing we have in common is our taste in music, but we complement each other well as friends. Another way in which our paths diverge is that I have taken the relatively safe path (in terms of being gender-friendly) and studied communications and film in college. Allie, meanwhile, takes courses in physics, calculus, and chemistry, and is considering a minor in computer science. When I go to a comm class, there's a solid chance the students will be at least 80 percent female. Meanwhile, when Allie goes to class, she is a minority as a female, and she tells me she is constantly worried about making a mistake and looking like a "dumb girl."

That women are underrepresented in math and the sciences is no secret. There are fewer women than men on television, and they are typically younger and shown in more provocative clothing. While the diversity of women's careers has expanded on television in recent years, it still doesn't rival that of men's. What Allie suffers from is 'stereotype threat', which NPR describes thusly: "When there's a stereotype in the air and people are worried they might confirm the stereotype by performing poorly, their fears can inadvertently make the stereotype become self-fulfilling."

Clearly, stereotypes have existed long before the media, but these stereotypes make it into the media and are reinforced in a vicious cycle.

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/12/156664337/stereotype-threat-why-women-quit-science-jobs