Men are brilliant. Women are meh.

Quick. Think of a brilliant composer. Likely, you pictured Mozart or Beethoven, right? Now, think of a genius physicist? Einstein?  Yup. Me too. A recent study out of NYU showed that men are more likely than women to be seen as "brilliant"--and even young girls are buying into this bias. (Grrr.) Aside from historical gender inequity, it comes down to this: women are still underrepresented in fields like science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. What's worse is that people are more likely to recommend men than women for jobs that require a big brain, says a 2018 study. 

How do we show girls and boys that traits like "genius" and "brilliance" aren't reserved for dudes? Talk about women like scientist Marie Curie, inventor Hedy Lamarr (above), NASA mathematician of color Dorothy Vaughan or computer programmer Ada Lovelace. Watch "Hidden Figures" with your kids. Show them the latest females to win a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation. Get in the habit of saying, "She's brilliant!" and "That woman is a genius!"

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