Gender Equality and the Gender Gap in Mathematics

Abstract

A gender gap has been found in mathematics (boys outperform girls) that has prevailed across countries for many decades. Whether this gap results from nature or nurture has been hotly debated. Using the evidence of PISA 2003 and the gender equality index of 2003, some researchers have argued that an improvement in gender equality reduces the gender gap in mathematics. This study used five waves of country-level PISA data and, controlling for country fixed effects, found no evidence to support this argument. Furthermore, individual data for PISA 2012 and the multilevel data model were used. The conclusion drawn also does not support the argument. In fact, the relationship between gender equality and the gender gap in mathematics vanished after PISA 2003.

Gender Differences in School Achievement

“…In other words, these studies found boys and girls to perform about equally well or girls to perform better than boys in more gender-equal countries, while boys outperformed girls in less gender-equal countries. In contrast to the findings for reading, more studies found no significant or mixed relationships between measures of societal gender equality and mathematics gender gaps, however (Else-Quest et al, 2010;Ghasemi et al, 2019;Hamamura, 2012;Ireson, 2017;Munir & Winter-Ebmer, 2018;Penner, 2008;Reilly et al, 2019;Stoet & Geary, 2013;Tao & Michalopoulos, 2018;van Langen et al, 2006). Another study investigated the association between gender gaps and a more proximal measure of gender-related stereotypes.…”

“…Future research should explore this possible explanation in more detail. The biggest group of identified studies correlated the countries' gender gaps with variables that indicate more general gender gaps in the societies (e.g., gender gaps in wages, political empowerment, health service access) (De San Roman, Ainara Gonzalez & La Rica, 2016;Else-Quest et al, 2010;Ghasemi et al, 2019;Guiso et al, 2008;Hamamura, 2012;Ireson, 2017;Marks, 2008;Munir & Winter-Ebmer, 2018;Penner, 2008;Reilly, 2012;Reilly et al, 2019;Stoet & Geary, 2013;Tao & Michalopoulos, 2018;van Langen et al, 2006). The choice of cultural variables, large-scale assessments, and countries varied however greatly between these studies, which limits the conclusions that can be drawn.…”

International Reading Gaps between Boys and Girls, 1970–2016

“…The indicators differed however vastly between the studies, including gender-related attitudes from the World Values Survey, the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index, female enrolment ratios in specific university tracks, or gender gaps in salaries or labor force participation. Some of these studies indeed found gender gaps to be more shifted in favor of girls in more gender-equal countries (e.g., Guiso et al 2008;Reilly 2012;van Langen et al 2006), others, however, found mixed or insignificant associations (e.g., Else-Quest et al 2010;Marks 2008;Stoet and Geary 2013;Tao and Michalopoulos 2018). This inconclusive state of research may be related to the use of different indicators and country samples.…”

Jordan and Lebanon Performance in International Student Assessments

“…The discrepancy in educational achievement between male and female students is a common problem faced by many countries, on which a lot of research has been devoted. A massive body of literature indicates that males do perform higher in mathematics and science (Hyde, 2014;Tao and Michalopoulos, 2018;Contini, Di Tommaso and Mendolia, 2017;Williams, White, and MacDonald, 2016;Sun, Bradley, and Akers, 2012). However, it is often reported that the gap for these subjects is closing (Lindberg et al, 2010;Robinson and Lubienski, 2010;Wang and Degol, 2017;Hyde et al, 2008).…”