“I need each of you to tell every young woman you know –– to be comfortable with imperfection, because when we teach girls to be imperfect, and we help them leverage it, we will build a movement of young women who are brave and who will build a better world for themselves and for each and every one of us,” says Reshma Saujani who believes that, “We're taught to smile pretty, play it safe, get all A's. Boys, on the other hand, are taught to play rough, swing high, crawl to the top of the monkey bars and then just jump off headfirst. And by the time they're adults, whether they're negotiating a raise or even asking someone out on a date, they're habituated to take risk after risk.”
And that is why she says, she braved it by running for the elections in 2012 (in the US) and losing… “I was 33 years old and it was the first time in my entire life that I had done something that was truly brave, where I didn't worry about being perfect…”
In our obsession to make girls beyond reproach Saujani finds, “At the fifth grade level, girls routinely outperform boys in every subject, including math and science, so it's not a question of ability. The difference is in how boys and girls approach a challenge. And it doesn't just end in fifth grade. An HP report found that men will apply for a job if they meet only 60 per cent of the qualifications, but women, women will apply only if they meet 100 per cent of the qualifications. Hundred per cent. This study is usually invoked as evidence that women need a little more confidence. But I think it is evidence that women have been socialized to aspire to perfection, and they're overly cautious… so many women I talk to tell me that they gravitate towards careers and professions that they know they're going to be great in…”
Saujani believes the fear of being wrong makes women opt for the trodden path, “And even when we're ambitious, even when we're leaning in, that socialization of perfection has caused us to take less risks in our careers. And so those 600,000 jobs that are open right now in computing and tech, women are being left behind, and it means our economy is being left behind on all the innovation and problems women would solve if they were socialized to be brave instead of socialized to be perfect.”
Teach girls bravery not perfection says Saujani, “…in 2012, I started a company to teach girls to code… Coding, is an endless process of trial and error, of trying to get the right command in the right place, with sometimes just a semicolon making the difference between success and failure. Code breaks and then it falls apart, and it often takes many, many tries until that magical moment when what you're trying to build comes to life. It requires perseverance. It requires imperfection. It turns out that our girls are really good at coding…”
However, says Saujani, “My friend Lev Brie, who is a professor at the University of Columbia and teaches intro to Java tells me about his office hours with computer science students. When the guys are struggling with an assignment, they'll come in and they'll say, ‘Professor, there's something wrong with my code.’ The girls will come in and say, ‘Professor, there's something wrong with me’.”
We have to build a sisterhood that lets girls know that they are not alone. Talking of the doubts that assail a woman, Saujani says, “I can't tell you how many women tell me, I'm afraid to raise my hand, I'm afraid to ask a question, because I don't want to be the only one who doesn't understand, the only one who is struggling. When we teach girls to be brave and we have a supportive network cheering them on, they will build incredible things…”
sudhamahi@gmail.com
Web link: https://www.ted.com/talks/reshma_saujani_teach_girls_bravery_not_perfection#t-33703
