The Disappearing Gifted Girl
Research tells us that gifted boys and gifted girls start out life in equal
numbers and that they remain equal for the first decade of life. Girls even
have an edge over boys in verbal intelligence, grade point averages, and
achievement tests throughout grade school. But as they get older, gifted
girls mysteriously disappear; there is a gradual, relentless decline in the
number of gifted girls and women identified. Much of this alarming trend
can be traced to socialization practices that steadily erode gifted girls’ self
confidence and undermine their aspirations.
This problem is serious! The situation is caused by deeply rooted practices
and beliefs both at home and at school. If we are to reverse this trend and
rescue our gifted girls, educators and parents of young girls must be
informed about what is happening and why.
My intent here is to summarize the research on this topic and to suggest
some resources for further reading.
The RESEARCH FINDINGS:







Gifted girls generally have an easier time than gifted boys in
mastering complex social skills required of advanced children. They
are more adept at imitation than boys.
Gifted girls have an enhanced ability to perceive social clues and are
conditioned early in their lives to the importance of social acceptance.
Girls fit in by pretending to be less capable than they are.
Young gifted girls are rewarded for compliance and subtly taught to
dull their sensibilities and intelligence in favor of social acceptance.
An aptitude for adaptation often prevents detection of their
giftedness and may prove a barrier to their achievement.
The quality of a gifted girl’s work has often been shown to depend on
her associates.
To young girls, being friends means being just like each other.











Gifted girls often use their talents to gain social acceptance, blend in
with their group, and become invisible, rather than to be an
outstanding leader or scholar.
Gifted girls often exhibit their talents and abilities more at home
than they do at school; while boys try to be highly visible, girls tend to
blend in and become invisible.
A survey of 1,700 families asked parents to described signs of
leadership exhibited by their gifted children. In almost every case in
which the term “bossy” was used, it was used to describe a female
child. Parents used the term “a leader” to describe their sons. This
sends the message that it is inappropriate for a girl to be a boss; she
should be a follower instead.
Girls demand thorough conformity of their peers; a girl who is
different in any way may be ostracized and regarded as “poison.” The
pre-adolescent group tends to reject girls who appear too smart or
successful.
Society’s message is that it’s not smart to be smart. In many cases
girls purposely make mistakes or refuse to answer questions so they
will not be identified as gifted or considered to be smart.
Many gifted girls face torment from both sexes if they choose
achievement over conformity.
Gifted girls may sacrifice gifted friends to gain acceptance of less
gifted classmates.
Gifted girls are at great risk of denying, camouflaging, or abandoning
their talents.
The self esteem of gifted girls is undermined by their belief that high
ability means achieving good grades effortlessly; if effort is needed
to accomplish a task, then perhaps she is not gifted after all.
Teachers attribute mathematical success of male students to
capability and of female students to effort.
If socialization is the goal for gifted girls and women, their academic
or creative achievements will suffer.
We parents must arm ourselves with knowledge and information if we are to
protect our gifted girls from this disappearing girl syndrome. Read further
about this topic in Sylvia Rimm's books See Jane Win and How Jane Won and
Barbara Kerr's book Gifted Girls.
c. 2002 Eulouise Williams