Ask a class full of children to draw a scientist on a piece of paper. Surveys show that the overwhelming majority will draw a white male in a lab coat. What is even more disturbing is that most of the rest of the class will draw an angry looking woman in a lab coat that seems to hate the fact that she’s a scientist. However, survey that same class and you will find that 68% of boys and 66% of girls like science. What does this mean? It shows that although there is nearly equal interest in the study of science, the stereotype of women scientists is extremely negative when it rarely appears in the minds of children. Nonetheless, this isn’t stopping girls from succeeding in the field of scientific study. A recent report shows that girls have equal aptitude to boys in math and science, something that can be attributable to early exposure and encouragement by parents and teachers.

According to The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the performance data between girls and boys in math and science exams have narrowed, making a nearly invisible divide between genders. Complex problem solving skills and high level arithmetic enrichment courses are no longer “no no” words for girls, with adolescent females reaching parity with boys in these courses.

Differences still remain however. Math prodigies are still mostly males, although women are nearing the pack as old barriers and stigmas continue to fall. The myth used to be that males are biologically better at computation than girls are. Even Lawrence Summers, once the president of Harvard, made the comment that males have an “intrinsic aptitude” over women in math and science. This discriminatory mentality will take time to fully break, but break it will. As President Obama said in his speech in Cairo on Thursday, “A woman who is denied education is denied equality.” Let’s not make the mistakes of the past the brand names of the present. Let us compose the music of the present by tuning into

According to a study recently done by a panel of the nation’s top educators, the difference between girls’ and boys’ performance were “close to zero in all grades.” Perhaps in the past, the limitations of a girl’s competence was an unalterable and “solid engraving”, as is the literal definition of the word stereotype. However, in the year 2009, great teachers, parents and mentors have pushed the women of the future to leave their limiting labels in the past; today is a new day.

If you’re interested in being a part of progress, check out this link. It’s no mystery and should be no surprise – girls are keeping up pace with boys in math and science, and they seemingly like the speed. Speed, in case you were wondering, is measured by distance divided by time. My little sister taught me that.