Worldwide study finds few gender differences in math abilities

Submitted by Broadsword on Sat, 2010-01-09 03:33

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON – Girls around the world are not worse at math than boys, even though boys are more confident in their math abilities, and girls from countries where gender equity is more prevalent are more likely to perform better on mathematics assessment tests, according to a new analysis of international research.

"Stereotypes about female inferiority in mathematics are a distinct contrast to the actual scientific data," said Nicole Else-Quest, PhD, a psychology professor at Villanova University, and lead author of the meta-analysis. "These results show that girls will perform at the same level as the boys when they are given the right educational tools and have visible female role models excelling in mathematics."

The results are reported in the latest issue of Psychological Bulletin, published by the American Psychological Association. The finding that girls around the world appear to have less confidence in their mathematical abilities could help explain why young girls are less likely than boys to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Else-Quest and her fellow researchers examined data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Programme for International Student Assessment, representing 493,495 students ages 14-16 from 69 countries. Both studies' results were released in 2003, and not all countries participated in both assessments. The TIMSS focuses on basic math knowledge, while the PISA test assesses students' ability to use their math skills in the real world. The researchers felt these two tests offered a good sampling of students' math abilities.'

Contact Dr. Nicole Else-Quest by e-mail at Nicole.Else.Quest-at-Villanova.edu

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Comments

... if in a given country the girls are not categorically equal to or better than the boys on standardized math tests, that is tacit PROOF they are being oppressed and/or short-changed in some way?

Every math tutor from basic math to calculus I have ever met has been female. However one thing they all seemed to have in common was that despite their ability in math, they had no interest at all in math-related fields of study. The ones I knew all wanted to major in things like psychology, writing, history. Or they taught math pursuant to the job they wanted to do, which is what they were actually doing: teaching.

I wonder, do any of these kinds of pronouncements about girls and math scores take into account the actual interest level of the individual girls in question? Has anyone stopped to ask them? Would it matter to a foregone-conclusion sort of feminist anyway?

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Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2010-01-09 03:55

The article maintains that: "These results show that girls will perform at the same level as the boys when they are given the right educational tools and have visible female role models excelling in mathematics."

These folks are slippery. By using "right educational tools" and "visible female role models" they are able to control the countries they want to compare. Also, there has never been much contention that the middle levels of math ability show great differences in male and female. The profound differences are at the 2nd, 3rd, fourth and beyond standard deviations above the mean. The farther you go towards the genius level the more males predominate. I am guessing that they only focused on the middle levels which will likely show great similarities and in countries which don't have "female role models" the chances are very high that they also don't have good textbooks, good teachers, good facilites etc.

In cases like this where the resoucres are low those who have natural mathmatical skills (boys) would likely do a bit better than those without who would be more likely dependent on additional teachers, role models, textbooks etc. So perhaps their data actually shows that boys have more natural ability. lol One could interpret the data in the opposite direction with only a little shift here or there.

Just seems like more ideological propaganda.

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Submitted by Tom on Sat, 2010-01-09 12:15

And those 3 or 4 standard deviations below the mean will be predominantly male as well, but we don't notice these.

Also, once you get to the very top end, as in sport, it only needs men to have the slightest edge over women to predominate.

But simply by posting this I suppose I'm part of the conspiracy keeping women down.

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Submitted by Malcolm on Sat, 2010-01-09 14:09

manonthestreet

These are just the same arguments that feminist have been using for decades. It's all a matter of the 'right' approach and suitable female role models. Trouble is that this garbage will be used by our scavenging politicians will seize upon and ride to the rescue.

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Submitted by trotter on Sat, 2010-01-09 16:14

Malcom wrote:

And those 3 or 4 standard deviations below the mean will be predominantly male as well, but we don't notice these.

If you want to run for office or get published remember:

1) Over-representation of males at the high end of the scale proves discrimination against women, a high-priority crisis.

2) Over-representation of males at the low end of the scale proves ..... Forget it - no one cares.

Stick with the formula and you'll go a long way.

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Submitted by Arty on Sat, 2010-01-09 20:45