When I was a child, I could get hours of entertainment from asking my parents one simple question. "Why?". For some reason, my insatiable curiosity drove me to ask, and ask, and ask this question. Curiosity matters. As Eleanor Roosevelt put it, "Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive". One Harvard Business Review article claims that curiosity is as important as intelligence. It means you have a hungry mind, you're inquisitive and you are open to new experiences.
La Petite Écolière has exposed me to many topics in gender issues and the psychology of children. When doing some initial reading of a report by Statistics Canada, titled Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, I saw that one study found that 5-year-old boys ranked higher than girls with respect to curiosity. To put it more specifically: the study found that 67% of boys often showed curiosity, versus 48% of girls, as rated by their parents. Several months later, an article was sent to me stating that women ask disproportionately fewer questions than men at conference talks, even when women make up the majority of the audience. This phenomenon of the female population asking fewer questions, and being less curious, seems to carry through to adult life.
These studies inspired me to create the "Spark Your Curiosity" collection. Let us encourage girls to keep asking questions, and keep their curiosity alive! Click the photos to shop the style!
I'd love to hear your thoughts! Why is it that women ask fewer questions? Are they genuinely less curious, or are they just less vocal about their curiosity? Are young girls being discouraged at a critical age from asking questions? Are women afraid of seeming less competent than their male counterparts?