Simply put, women are dynamic by nature. Flip through your contact list. I’ll bet you know women who are doctors, teachers, mothers, lawyers, business owners, philanthropists, friends, writers, CEOs, and everything in between. Each of these women probably wears more than one hat, too.

When we started planning Keyholder this year, we wanted to bring someone we could all relate to; someone who has fully embraced the ability of women to be successful at whatever it is that drives them. So, who is this woman?

She is Goldie Hawn. Although most of us know her for her bright career in acting, singing and writing, she is much more than that. She is a visionary, a philanthropist. She sends a message of mindfulness; mindfulness of who you are and what you can do for those around you. Her foundation focuses on children, realizing they are the future and they have limitless potential. All in all, she gets what it means to be a dynamic woman.

Her Hollywood roles cover everything from the quirky girl on Good Morning, World to a woman coming into her own in Private Benjamin, to her Academy Award performance in Cactus Flower. Her book A Lotus Grows in the Mud is not so much a tell-all of the Hollywood life, but rather an introspective journey to wisdom and self-fulfillment. She is a business woman, a mother, and an inspiration.

So, are you ready to Strike Gold?

Written by: Hallie Kloots

In the article Girls worse at math? No way, new analysis shows (see article), Maggie Fox discusses girls’ math skills and the nature versus nurture debate between one camp that suggests that girls are inherently, or biologically, bad at math, and the camp that believes that societal gender inequality produces girls’ low math scores or the perception of girls as bad at math. As a women’s studies major, and former psychology major, I have read multiple articles and participated in many class discussions on gender differences and if these differences are rooted in nature or nurture. Through such academic experiences I have come to believe that gender is a social conception which is often stereotyped, and for women, is often limited to only certain identities and skills (not as much now as in the past when women’s identities were strongly pegged to motherhood, the dutiful housewife, and domestic master).  Socially, and culturally, we have defined for decades, centuries even, that men and boys are better at math then women and girls. However, new and exciting research is demonstrating that girls are just as good as boys at math, even at the genius level!

                Maggie Fox points to statistics from a study published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” and to data collected from students who participated in the International Math Olympics and the 2003 Program for International Student Assessment, which illustrate that girls have the inherent or biological wherewithal to perform at the same level of boys in mathematics. This even relates to findings released in our very own One Girl: The Status of Girls in Central Ohio, which illustrated that girl students are performing at similar levels as boy students on math proficiency tests. So, to the camp which believes that girls can not succeed and excel in mathematics: YOU’RE WRONG!

                But, despite such positive statistics, we do see some gender disparities in math achievement. For instance, in the United States there are significantly less female than male mathematics professors. What explains such disparities? Fox points to historical-cultural gender inequality. For decades girls have not been as encouraged as boys to excel at math and jobs which involve complex math skills are typically considered by the culture to be male jobs. I think that this must be rooted in the women’s historical roles; across cultures, women were often limited to the domestic sphere, where they were not encouraged to succeed in math and did not need math for their day to day work, especially because they were typically not in charge of managing the household finances.

                This only highlights the need to encourage girls to enjoy math and to be confident in their mathematical abilities. When I was in 8^th grade, I had a challenging, but great teacher who really encouraged boys and girls to excel at math. I ended up being the only student in the school to score a 100% on the 8^th grade Math CBE (Credit By Exam) test, and I greatly attribute that success to my teacher’s dedication to my own academic development as well as her egalitarian math teaching methods. At the Women’s Fund we have been talking a lot about the significance of mentoring in girls’ lives lately. Perhaps mentoring would be a great approach to nurture girls’ confidence in their math abilities and to teach them that they are not inherently inferior in the subject! As I go on to teach secondary chemistry in the D.C. area next fall, I will certainly remember Maggie Fox’s article and the power of mentoring and dedication to girls’ math skills as I try to empower girls as best as I can to be confident in using their math skills in my class.

 By Katie, Clonan-Roy, WFCO Intern