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Friday, May 30, 2008 9:20 PM UTC

The education gender gap

Yet another study on why the sexes score differently in academic disciplines -- but this one comes with some surprising findings.

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Topics: Broadsheet, Gender, Love and Sex,

It seems like we cover a new study showing girls aren’t really worse than boys at [insert male-dominated discipline here] about every other day, and often enough, the discipline in question is math or science. So I almost zoomed right past this article, “Boys Not Better at Math Than Girls, Study Finds,” in my morning reading, assuming it would be snoozeworthy. Good thing I didn’t, because this study of the educational gender gap, led by professor Paola Sapienza of Northwestern University, actually says something interesting and (to me, anyway) new.

Globally, girls average 10.5 points lower than boys on math tests — but the picture gets more complicated when you look at things locally. In Sweden, about the closest thing we’ve got to a “gender-equal society,” the difference between boys’ and girls’ scores is negligible. In Turkey, not such a gender-equal society, the average difference is 23 points. This study, which examined the test scores of 276,000 children in 40 countries, found that this pattern held around the world. “Average girls’ scores improved as equality improved and the number of girls reaching the highest levels of performance also increased.” In other words, it turns out more equality leads to … more equality. Go figure.

When it comes to reading, though, girls start to get more equal than others. “The research also found a striking gender gap in reading skills. In every country girls perform better than boys in reading but in countries that treat both sexes equally, girls do even better.” The global average difference is 32.7 points. In Iceland, another country noteworthy for its gender equality, girls’ average scores were 61 points higher than boys. Sixty-one points!

The article doesn’t say how old the children in question were, so it could be a case of girls developing verbal skills faster than boys; perhaps the difference more or less evens out later in life. But I’m still not sure how I feel about the fact that the headline here is about girls and math, in light of those stunning numbers. Naturally, part of me thinks, “You see? Girls will not only keep up but excel if you treat them equally!” But another part of me thinks that if societal gender equality leads to boys being that far behind at something as important as reading, at some point, it ceases to be equality. (Contrary to feminist caricatures, most of us aren’t actually looking for total world domination.)

I’m really not sure how you fix that problem — I only know that treating girls like crap to keep things even is not an option, no matter how well it has worked in the past. I’m still pretty psyched about those math scores, thank you very much.

Kate Harding

Kate Harding is the co-author of "Lessons From the Fatosphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce With Your Body" and has been a regular contributor to Salon's Broadsheet. More Kate Harding.

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  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

  • In Gezi Park since March 31st, this protester, originally caught off-guard by the Government’s teargas and water cannons, went out and bought a Russian army mask from WWII, preparing for what was to come.

  • This rambunctious boy seems to be enjoying the chaos. After taking this picture he threw a stone at the already destroyed building in the background.

  • Forming a line, the police face off directly with protesters in Taksim Square. After a while, they retreated and there was a general cheer – a back-and-forth dance that has been common since the beginning of this protest.

  • An elderly woman in Gezi Park reads the news. The tent community occupying the park was violently destroyed on June 16th.

  • Many different groups had set up booths to promote their cause in Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Standing in front of one, this man waves his flag while posing with conviction.

  • Many home-remedies are used to minimize the effects of tear gas. This woman has put a milky solution on her face, removing her mask after the tear gas dissipated. Before sunrise, the police came again for another round of teargasing.

  • People capitalize on the uprising -- selling flags, beer, gas masks, sky lanterns and spray paint to name just a few of the popular items.

  • On Monday morning, June 11, the police execute a strong offensive. Many plain-clothed police officers, like the ones seen here, clash with protesters in the side streets away from the main stand-off in Taksim.

  • The authorities seem to be most aggressive in the night, pushing protesters away from the square and park. After being teargassed this young woman catches her breath with other protesters on Siraselviler Street.

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