The influence of an equity statement on perceivers' implicit and explicit associations between males and science

The present study investigated how an Equal Educational Opportunity (EEdO) statement influenced students' attitudes towards the association of males and females with science. After reading an advertisement for a student scholarship in physical science, including the equity statement or not, 109 participants completed both an implicit and an explicit measure of the relative association of males and females with physical sciences. As expected, physical science was more strongly associated with males than with females, on both the implicit and explicit measures. There was no impact of the presence or absence of the equity statement on explicit attitudes. However, there was an impact of the equity-statement for the implicit attitudes, though only for the female participants. Females showed a weaker relative association of sciences with males when an equity-statement was present. Male participants, in contrast, were not influenced by the presence or the absence of the statement. The results are discussed in terms the influence of equity statements on people's attitudes.