This article claims that girls don't take enough math in middle school and high school to take a STEM major in college. I can believe this. The Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) fields all require calculus. You cannot understand the STEM courses unless you know calculus, the homework problems are calculus based, the explanations of how things work and what's going on won't make sense to you unless you have taken integral calculus first semester of your freshman college year.
To take calculus in college , you need a fair amount of math before you get to college. You must have algebra, probably two years of algebra, and a year of trigonometry. A year of plane geometry is very helpful although not mandatory.
If you get to college without the necessary algebra and trig, it will take you two years (four semesters) to pick it up, by which time you are a junior. Which is too late usually to take a STEM major, most of which start in sophomore year.
The big attraction of STEM majors, is they make you truly employable, upon graduation, and for the rest of your life, unlike majors in political science, art history, sociology, and any kind of ethnic or gender "studies". STEM majors are fun, the subjects have right answers that can be proven to be right, and not subject to the political whims of the professor. They offer understanding of the real world, as opposed to the ivory tower world of academia. You don't want to lock your self out of a STEM major at age 15, before you have clue as to what you want to be when you grow up.
So take the necessary math in high school and middle school. Keep your options open.
Back when I was in high school, the girls were always ahead of the boys in math classes. There is no gender based math incapacity. Math is not hard, and you don't have to memorize very much to do well in it.
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