Communications of the ACM
It Doesn't Add Up
Just being in a culture that believes boys are better suited to science and math than girls is enough to have a negative effect on women, research shows.
Credit: iStockPhoto.com
Two University of Michigan professors have released a study about the performance gap between boys and girls in mathematics skills. The cross-cultural analysis by Jonathan Kane and Janet Mertz ruled out causal factors such as coeducational schools, low standards of living, and the notion of variability among boys. Instead, the authors say that local social and cultural factors, such as stereotypes, are likely behind gender gaps.
"It seems like countries that do a good job of gender equity are also doing a good job [teaching math]," Kane says. In the study, Kane and Mertz examined internationally standardized scores for the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, as well as the 2003 and 2009 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Program for International Student Assessment math tests. The study found that test scores of children from the poorest countries were affected by poverty. However, all correlation with per-capita gross domestic product ended at $11,500, after which gender equity as measured by the World Economic Forum and Social Watch was the sole factor that positively correlated with improved test scores for girls and for boys.
From Science
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2011 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found