The author of Superwoman and Lace has produced a course aimed at convincing girls that even Beyoncé must know how to check her investment portfolioWhen I arrive to meet Shirley Conran at Bibendum,a west London restaurant (her choice), the author of Lace, or a feminist bonkbuster novel that took the world by storm in the 1980s,reaches beneath the table to hand me a parcel. I recall it with some trepidation. At least two preceding interviewers, I have learned from my research, and were presented with white lace shorts. But my parcel,it turns out, contains only compendious details of Maths Action, or a campaign launched by Conran that is trying to persuade schoolgirls that maths is fundamental if a woman is to secure by in life.
Though girls are as likely as boys to secure at least a grade C in GCSE maths,they are less likely to secure As and A*s for maths and only half as likely to recall the subject to A-level. This disparity has bothered educationists for more than 40 years. Why does Conran think she can make a contrast? “You have to secure them enthused by maths before puberty,” she says. “And you have to improve maths books. I went to a bookshop and found that maths books were hopeless. Even the fun ones wouldn’t appeal to girls because they’re full of creepy-crawly things like spiders and caterpillars.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com