The Hidden Curriculum: What schools don’t say about gender and ambition

By Lyra Barry

Every teacher wants their students to be ambitious, set goals, and succeed. The way schools instill drive in their students is critical for success- but the messages spread to girls about ambition can alter one’s track from a young age. Starting in elementary school, girls are prompted to measure their initiative carefully: enough to show motivation and learning, but not too much to be intimidating, unrealistic, or too individualistic. But how are these ideas fostered in students?

Gender disparities in ambition and leadership are sowed by the ways that teachers critique and compliment their students. While girls are more commonly rewarded with compliments for being cooperative or considerate, competitiveness, leadership, and the desire to win are rewarded in boys. A study by the National Library of Medicine found that 96.4% of feedback from teachers to students encouraging cooperation were directed at girls, whereas 82.5% of those encouraging competition went to boys.

When placed in the context of disparities in ambition, these results suggest a correlation between competitiveness and a desire for leadership. When students are encouraged to be competitive and better than others, it develops ambition by putting pressure on students to be the best, which in turn becomes a tendency towards leadership.

Meanwhile, a greater emphasis on interpersonal skills and attention to the needs of others is placed on girls, which means that girls are encouraged to be considerate before being ambitious and driven and working to achieve their own goals. This implements the subconscious belief in girls that considering others is more important than being ambitious and driven. Consequently, ambition is coded as masculine and ambition in women and girls is viewed as overly aggressive.

So what does this say about the future?

The discouragement of girls from aiming high inevitably manifests itself in a difference in career choices. Research shows that women remain underrepresented in leadership roles across sectors. In 19 industries surveyed by the World Economic Forum in 2022, women occupied less than half of leadership positions in each sector. Sectors with a relatively high proportion of female leaders include education, membership organizations, and personal services and wellbeing. On the other hand, six industries including technology, infrastructure, and energy display less than 25% female leadership.

The data shows that qualified women are less likely to aspire to leadership roles, which can be connected back to ambition. This disparity in leadership is relevant because equal representation in leadership eliminates the ‘echo chamber’ effect, meaning that when everyone’s voices are at the table, differing perspectives can be brought up and considered to create true progress, which benefits everyone. Not only that, but when girls see other women represented in leadership positions, it inspires them to do the same, reversing the harmful effects of gendered stereotypes about ambition, not to mention that eliminating gender parity in leadership roles would make significant headway in closing the gender pay gap. And while the numbers of women in leadership roles are increasing slowly but surely, it only goes to show how important it is to foster ambition and high aspirations in young girls so even more bright young minds have the opportunity to be leaders.