Failing Without Consequences: Fighting Female Perfectionism in Male-Dominated Fields
By: Avery Didden
Econ101 is not a class for the faint of the heart. Macro, micro, and global economics bundled into one semester is a tall order even for those passionate about majoring in Economics. But when you enter the class as a future humanities major, like I did, the class goes from being difficult to being unbearable. I mean, I wanted to be reading Shakespeare not graphing Supply and Demand curves!
Incidentally, the class became less unbearable when I realized that this year was the first year Duke University changed its Econ101 policy to a Pass/Fail grading system. Rumors floated around the student body (as they do at college) that the reason for the change was that girls were more likely to drop the class when they received a bad grade, leaving the Economics department with a significant gender imbalance.
As the class progressed, I also found that it was somewhat less acceptable for me to want to take the class as a humanities major than a male who was a humanities major. Because I was a woman, it seemed to be an unspoken rule that I had to “want it” (whatever that means) more than the men.
But, I didn’t want the Wall Street cred, I wanted to learn. That’s where the Pass/Fail system really worked for me and for the other women in the class.
The new Pass/Fail system took the pressure off of all of the students. The women in the class definitely seemed happy about this change. I know I was. It's an amazing thing that happens when you allow students, especially female students, who have an ingrained need to apologize for their failings, to fail without consequences.
I studied with girls and boys throughout the semester of Econ101, and as the semester progressed, the women in the class, myself included, grew more confident asking and answering questions in our 300-person lecture hall.
There was a visible change in the way the women acted when they grew comfortable with just barely passing a test, focusing on the information instead of their mistakes. This Pass/Fail system allowed for true learning in the classroom both for women who were deeply invested in Econ and for women who just wanted to learn something new.
Now, I’m not suggesting that every class be Pass/Fail. What I am saying is that it is important that students, especially female students, are given the space to fail without consequences. This failing without consequences is especially important in male-dominated subjects like Econ.
By having all women learn to fail without consequences in male-dominated subjects, they will become more comfortable with their place in that sphere. A female humanities major can become comfortable with taking a male-dominated STEM class, and a STEM-focused woman can feel at home learning that they can fail alongside their male peers. This opportunity can create more STEM-centered female leaders, as well as more females willing to branch outside their comfortable areas of study.
Only with this opportunity can women have the real opportunity to thrive and grow in their learning. Only with this opportunity can women learn not to apologize for their mistakes.