A survey conducted by Roberta Marracino (Occupazione-Istruzione-Educazione: le trappole nascoste nel percorso delle ragazze verso il lavoro; McKinsey & Company, 2014) reveals how culture and family still have a fundamental influence on the behaviour and habits of young girls from an extremely early age.
Often, without even being fully aware of it, it’s the families that transmit the prejudice and stereotypes that keep women away from careers in research and science. Parents, in fact, right after teachers, are the figures that have the greatest influence technical-scientific university careers. This is clearly reflected in the “Scienza tecnologia e società” annual report (Il Mulino, Bologna 2014). Forty-three per cent of students choose to study scientific disciplines thanks to good teachers, followed by fathers (27,3%), mothers (24,9%), orientation experts (14,5%), friends (12,7%) and other relatives (12,4%).
Surprisingly, in terms of influencing a choice in mathematics or computer science, mothers are even more influential than fathers: respectively 24.3% and 23.7% vs. 20% and 22,9%.
Manuela is very clear about this, in fact. She is the mother of one of a student who has participated for years now in the RomeCup "Dance Secondary" category and President of the Teachers/Parents Board of the Liceo Democrito in Rome.
