Intelligence can be a curse, even more so if it falls on a woman. This is how the clinical psychologist specialized in giftedness and high abilities, Carmen Sanz Chacón, expresses herself forcefully in her latest book Destacar o callar (Plataforma Actual), in which through data and reports she demonstrates that women are at a social disadvantage when They try to assert themselves intellectually. Women with high abilities have difficulties finding a partner, reconciling their professional and personal lives, as well as finding a job that matches their abilities, and since they are children they feel that they do not fit into the established mold, so they tend to remain silent. , dissemble or lie to be accepted.
After reading the book, one comes to the conclusion that being intelligent can be a curse. Is that so?
When people with high abilities are not identified as such, they can develop many psychological problems. They are people who usually show low self-esteem and are very sensitive, with difficulties in relating. But if they find their place, they are tremendously happy, which is why it is so important to work on identifying gifted people.
You have been doing this for a good part of your professional career through the El Mundo Gifted foundation. He explains in his book that only 35% of gifted people are girls, although there is parity in people with above-average intelligence, why is it more difficult to detect high abilities in girls?
Girls adapt better in the classroom and hide their potential so as not to stand out, while boys tend to show more behavioral problems, so parents take them to the psychologist and that is where they detect that they are gifted. Families and teachers have to learn to detect high abilities to offer gifted people the work and academic opportunities they deserve.
What characteristics do gifted girls have?
They can be girls who have very good grades in primary school and then fail in secondary school, because they learn to appear inferior in order to be accepted. It is very common for them to be very sensitive and reason with an unusual logic for their age, as well as for them to learn to speak and read early and use a more developed vocabulary than other children. They also show difficulties in relating and prefer to be with children older or younger than their own.
He says there is a conflict between demonstrating intelligence and femininity. Is wanting to find a partner also a reason to hide high abilities when these girls grow up?
During childhood, girls usually shine just like boys, but in adolescence they feel the need to hide because their potential partners may feel threatened. Women with high abilities feel rejection from their peers, and also from their peers, and act this way to be accepted because social relationships are the basis of survival.
You have to be very smart to play dumb.
Many intelligent women feel forced to keep a low profile with men in order to have a partner and children. There are forums on the internet where advice is given on how to be less intimidating to men. That is why women with high abilities end up pairing with men who also have them, or they stay alone and develop their professional careers.
Beginning in middle age, are gifted women happier because they resolve the dilemma between femininity and wisdom?
They decide between being themselves or what society expects of them. Curiously, it is usually those who have developed their professional vocation who express higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction.
Although gifted women have difficulty finding a job that matches their abilities, why?
Over the last few years, much progress has been made in equality between men and women, but there is still a long way to go. Management positions continue to be held mostly by men. Men continue to recommend each other for this type of positions, and many highly capable women, when they occupy managerial positions, decide to leave their jobs to take care of their children. A wage gap also persists.
Why do women continue to choose caring professions such as healthcare or education over technical careers?
According to the OECD 2020, boys expect to work in the areas of science and engineering much more than girls, while girls prefer the areas of care. They plan their professional future thinking that they have to develop a profession that allows them to earn a living and support their family, while they choose it thinking about a balance.
In the book, she talks about impostor syndrome, the belief of many intelligent women that they lack special qualities and that their success is due to luck, and also about superwoman syndrome, what does the latter consist of?
If, despite all the inconveniences, the gifted woman manages to develop her professional career and at the same time take care of her family, the most common thing is that mental and physical exhaustion appears. As a gifted woman, everything, absolutely everything, has to be perfect. And if it is not, feelings of guilt appear that lead to low self-esteem.
How to improve opportunities for gifted people?
The most important thing is to work on the identification of these boys and girls. The training of teachers and psychologists throughout Spain in this sense is essential. There is a lot of ignorance and many gifted children diagnosed and medicated for other pathologies. There is a lack of information and support so that the gifted can manage and deploy the power of their mind.
