The film, Hidden Figures opened up with a scene showing a little African-American girl (Katherine Johnson as a child) solving complex math problems. The first 5-10 minutes of the film showed this brilliant child whose parents were willing to do any and everything to mold her natural inclination for understanding numbers. All it took was 5 minutes and this film had tears flowing down my eyes as thoughts of my own daughter rambling off complex shapes distracted me from the screen. "Mom, that is an octahedron!" and "Hey, do you see that rhombus?" . The mother in me saw my 3 year-old daughter's face in this beautiful little actress and it increased my determination to do whatever I have to do to make sure she goes beyond the stereotype of women not being as capable as men in the S.T.E.M. fields.  

​According to the National Science Foundation, women make up more than half of the workforce but only make up 29% of the science and engineering workforce (NSF, Science & Engineering Indicators, 2016). Broken down by specific fields (see table below of NSF data), it is obvious that something is going on with women finding success in anything that has to do with numbers!

Even if you are not a fan of the Lifetime series Dance Moms, you might find this scene interesting. It is a perfect example of when people from different groups come together and can't for the life of them understand the other's perspective.  In this episode, some of the mothers of the dance squad were concerned about the dance piece their children were doing entitled It's Hard to Find Good Help, a tribute to the book/film The Help. The African American and and Latina dancers were casted as the help and the White dancers were casted as the "socialites".  While it was obvious that this casting was appropriate for the piece, the African American mothers  were rightfully concerned about the dance not being just another stereotypical portrayal of Black people in subordinate, lower-class positions.  In contrast, the White mothers could not understand why the African American mothers still felt racism was an issue in America.  This a prime example when people from different groups have a hard time understanding one another, mainly due to different life experiences and lack of interacting with large numbers of people from different groups than their own. The African American mothers could not fully understand the plight of the White mothers always having to go out of their way to prove they are NOT prejudice. The White mothers could not understand the plight that the African American mothers deal with on a regular basis of being negatively stereotyped. As Holly (one of the African-American moms) said at the end when attempting to shed light on her feelings, "That is MY LIFE and MY EXPERIENCES". The more we attempt to understand the life and experiences of others, the better we will be able to empathize with them.

The answer is YES! We are not talking about hatred, bigoted, racist, sexist biases but something very basic. Let me share a story with you before diving more into the answer.

When my daughter was a mere 1 year old, I picked her up from daycare and this poor little African-American girl (who was obviously ready for her mommy to get there) ran up to me. After about 2 seconds she realized I wasn't her mother and looked so disappointed because for just a brief moment she thought this brown mommy could be her brown mommy! That is all bias is about during infancy, until about 2 years old, then it gets more complicated (SEE LATER POST). An infant has to be smart enough to know who IS mommy and who is NOT mommy.  This is the beginning of bias. Imagine a child being stranded, and really not being able to find their mother. This could be a matter of life and death (or like the story book "Are You My Mother" lol)...but seriously, if an infant were in a situation where they must find their mother they don't have time to sit and wonder "Well what did she look like again?". Instead their little brains (which remember what mommy looks like since they have been looking at her since birth), start scanning for people that LOOK like mommy until they find the right one. No use looking for a Chinese woman if your mom is a Black woman, that would be a waste of time and potentially life threatening.