Starting from the age of six years old, girls stop believing they can be in a role that requires ‘brilliance’ –jobs like being a president, a scientist or CEO - according to New York University research.
Girls are also three times less likely to be given science-related toys, according to the Institute of Engineering and Technology, while parents are twice as likely to Google ‘is my son gifted?’ than ‘is my daughter gifted?’
These are all the tell-tale signs of what Barbie doll makers Mattel call the ‘Dream Gap’.
Their virtual roundtable on the importance of female role models ahead of International Women’s Day in March 2021 saw representatives from UN Women, the European Space Agency and many more discussing this gap, and how it is holding girls and women back even now, in the 21st century.