Where Are the Girls in Math Team?—An Update

At a school like Stuyvesant where a myriad of STEM clubs and classes are offered to students, the issue of gender disparity is a familiar one.

The Undercurrents article “Where Are the Girls in Math Team?” written by junior Erin Lee in 2018 shined a scrutinizing spotlight on the lack of female representation in math team. Crediting some of the reasons to the abrasive behavior of boys in the classroom and girls feeling pressure to do well on competitions, the article featured a variety of girls’ experiences on the team—some negative, some positive.

Though the story was published over a year ago, the experiences of girls on math team continue to evolve, and not in a good way.

“I was there when a group of non-senior boys on the senior team said that Erin's article was ‘unreasonable’ after it was released last year,” senior and math team co-captain Nancy Kuang said. “Instead of talking about the core issue of the article, they instead decided to point out every single minor error that they spotted just to discredit her article.”

In spite of this, the coaches have tried to provide as much support as they can. For instance, they have encouraged girls’ participation in math competitions by organizing trips to competitions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Math Prize for Girls—the world’s largest scholarship math competition for young women. “The trip was organized in part because a lot of the students would not have been able to go otherwise, as their parents were unable to take them. In fact, Nancy Kuang's parents were unable to take her, so we took her instead, and she placed in the top 15,” math teacher Stan Kats said. The coaches also organized a trip for a team of girls to compete at other more local competitions taking place at Trinity School and Spence School last fall and plan to continue doing so in the following years.

Junior Grace Yang described how when she was a freshman, math teacher Brian Sterr actually pulled her aside and asked what changes could be implemented. “[He asked how I,] as a girl, feel about the gap in gender representation in math team and what I think could close the gap,” she said. “It’s been two years, and I still don’t have an answer.”

But despite the teachers’ best efforts to close the gender gap, many girls are still feeling left out, no one more so than Kaung.

When Kuang was interviewed a year ago, she told Lee that she didn’t encounter as much gender discrimination as her peers. Since becoming a co-captain, however, Kuang’s experience has changed: “I’ve realized that respect meant much more than not having the boys on the team outwardly say condescending things to you.”

Their actions convey the same message. Kuang recounted an instance when she and her fellow co-captains, who were male, were assigned to create a problem set as competition practice for the underclassmen: “[I gave] multiple suggestions, such [as] that the problems were too difficult, but they would call me ridiculous and ignore me.” Instead, they consulted the advice of math team coach and math teacher Jim Cocoros, or that of former math team captain Milan Haiman (’19), who both “gave the exact same critiques.”

This instance was not the first time Kuang has encountered such blatant disregard for her opinions. “I’ve worked on math problems with a few people this year who rejected my ideas without a second of consideration, mainly because these ideas were coming from me and not themselves,” Kuang voiced in frustration. “I’ve seen them do math with others, and they do not have the same attitude.”

For many girls looking to join and stay in the math team, this flippant attitude can be very disheartening. But this behavior pales in comparison to what junior Megan Gupta-She has heard on multiple separate occasions. Gupta-She said, “I have actually heard guys on the math team say women are less intelligent than men or that we are given special treatment because of our gender.”

Seating arrangements during after school practices are also a physical testament to the gender divide. Grace Yang described after school practices where “the boys sat on one side and the girls sat on the other. Unless we were randomly assigned teams, the teams would not be co-ed unless their friend group was of mixed gender.”

“There are some really close friend groups in math team,” noted sophomore Xiaoshen Ma. As a result, without a strong support system, math team’s competitive environment can cause “some people to end up feeling isolated and intimidated.”

More often than not, the students most affected by this are girls.

“Most of the girls in my grade, including those who were placed on NYCIML teams during their freshmen year, dropped math team. Now, there is only one other senior girl on the Stuy team, and both of us had done math team in middle school,” Kuang said. Their mathematical abilities may give them confidence, but, as the number of girls on math team continues to shrink, that confidence may waver.

In response to this, former math team co-captain Hans Yang (’19) reflected on how things have changed since entering college: “A lot of the passive discomfort that I’ve had has gone away, and I have increased freedom to associate with the types of people and groups that I want and approach situations with support from people.”

Similarly, Grace Yang managed to overcome these adversities by reminding herself that the score marked on top of her paper isn’t an accurate indication of her worth: “Your scores and standings should matter, but at the end of the day, they’re just numbers,” she said. Her main priority is to have fun, and she takes advantage of after school practices to forge bonds and get to know her peers.

There’s no doubt that the issue runs deep, but prospective solutions to this issue remain just as ambivalent.“Whenever I think of possible solutions, there [are] always holes,” Grace Yang explained. “If we were to give separate instruction to boys and to girls, sure, that’ll improve the girls’ standings but would forgo the integration necessary for co-ed team competitions. If we gave instruction based on skill level, it could further separate the extremes because people become more self-conscious and less confident while others continue climbing the ranks.”

Perhaps it is too early to give a definitive answer, and a select few individuals aren’t a good reflection of the entire department. Both the coaches and students are committed to change, but these things take time to be implemented. Given the fact that only a single school year has passed since the publication of Lee’s article, noting any significant changes in such a short period of time can be misleading. “If you’ve covered algebra or trig[onometry] stats, you know that one data point isn’t enough,” Kats said.

In a school full of students who pride themselves in academic excellence, it seems that some still fail to understand the most valuable lesson of all: respect. Lee’s article might’ve provided deep insight into the issue of gender disparity in math team, but there’s still much work to be done. Starting with spreading awareness, people should learn to change their mindset and be more considerate of those around them. If not, the gender gap in math team will only continue to widen.