system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Girls-only math and science competitions are counter-productive and do not help to encourage more girls into these fields

Currently math and science tend to be much more male\-dominated than other fields, and this seems to be the case in math/science competitions as well. Competitions like the International Mathematical Olympiad \(IMO\) are usually disproportionately male dominated to the extent that one or two girls on a country's team is enough to make the news. To encourage more girls to enter competitions like this, and to encourage interest in STEM, there are some competitions like the EGMO \(European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad\) that are open only to girls. 

I find this counter\-productive because I don't see the reason why creating a competition only for girls will actually help encourage them into math and science. Separating by gender can give people the incorrect impression that girls are less able than boys in these fields and therefore require a separate competition to get anywhere at all.

The only reason I can think of for why a separate competition needs to be created for different genders is when significant physical differences would make a combined competition unfair \(which is why physical sports are separated by gender\) but in academic fields like math and science I don't see any biological reason why someone with XX chromosomes should be predisposed to be worse in STEM.

In addition, since the population is close to half and half male and female, a competition limited to one gender would probably mean less people take part \- so the fact that there are fewer people in the female only competition will mean that standards are lower overall, *just because there are fewer people in the competition.* 

\(It's like if you take the fastest person in a large city and a small village, the fastest person from the city is statistically more likely to be faster than the village person because there are more people in the city so the probability is higher\). 

This may mean that the girls only competition may be perceived as second\-rate or at a lower standard and wrongly stigmatise girls as being less able in math even though it isn't the case, which is counter\-productive to the original intention.
gpt
It can be very intimidating to go into an environment and have an uncontrollable trait (race, gender, etc.) that sets you apart from the vast majority of the other people in that environment. Ideally, in 100+ years, we won't need women only competitions in academics, but now it gives women an environment where they can foster their love of science without dealing with the intimidation that comes from being different from almost everyone else they're competing with. And after they gain the confidence from competing against other women and do well there, they may have better confidence when it comes to competing against anybody else. It has nothing to do with biological reasons and everything to do with social ones.