Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Contributors
- 1 Research on the Women and Mathematics Issue: A Personal Case History
- 2 The Perseverative Search for Sex Differences in Mathematics Ability
- 3 A Psychobiosocial Model: Why Females Are Sometimes Greater Than and Sometimes Less Than Males in Math Achievement
- 4 Gender Differences in Math: Cognitive Processes in an Expanded Framework
- 5 Cognitive Contributions to Sex Differences in Math Performance
- 6 Spatial Ability as a Mediator of Gender Differences on Mathematics Tests: A Biological–Environmental Framework
- 7 Examining Gender-Related Differential Item Functioning Using Insights from Psychometric and Multicontext Theory
- 8 The Gender-Gap Artifact: Women's Underperformance in Quantitative Domains Through the Lens of Stereotype Threat
- 9 “Math is hard!” (Barbie™, 1994): Responses of Threat vs. Challenge-Mediated Arousal to Stereotypes Alleging Intellectual Inferiority
- 10 The Role of Ethnicity on the Gender Gap in Mathematics
- 11 The Gender Gap in Mathematics: Merely a Step Function?
- 12 “I can, but I don't want to”: The Impact of Parents, Interests, and Activities on Gender Differences in Math
- 13 Gender Effects on Mathematics Achievement: Mediating Role of State and Trait Self-Regulation
- 14 Gender Differences in Mathematics Self-Efficacy Beliefs
- 15 Gender Differences in Mathematics: What We Know and What We Need to Know
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
11 - The Gender Gap in Mathematics: Merely a Step Function?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Contributors
- 1 Research on the Women and Mathematics Issue: A Personal Case History
- 2 The Perseverative Search for Sex Differences in Mathematics Ability
- 3 A Psychobiosocial Model: Why Females Are Sometimes Greater Than and Sometimes Less Than Males in Math Achievement
- 4 Gender Differences in Math: Cognitive Processes in an Expanded Framework
- 5 Cognitive Contributions to Sex Differences in Math Performance
- 6 Spatial Ability as a Mediator of Gender Differences on Mathematics Tests: A Biological–Environmental Framework
- 7 Examining Gender-Related Differential Item Functioning Using Insights from Psychometric and Multicontext Theory
- 8 The Gender-Gap Artifact: Women's Underperformance in Quantitative Domains Through the Lens of Stereotype Threat
- 9 “Math is hard!” (Barbie™, 1994): Responses of Threat vs. Challenge-Mediated Arousal to Stereotypes Alleging Intellectual Inferiority
- 10 The Role of Ethnicity on the Gender Gap in Mathematics
- 11 The Gender Gap in Mathematics: Merely a Step Function?
- 12 “I can, but I don't want to”: The Impact of Parents, Interests, and Activities on Gender Differences in Math
- 13 Gender Effects on Mathematics Achievement: Mediating Role of State and Trait Self-Regulation
- 14 Gender Differences in Mathematics Self-Efficacy Beliefs
- 15 Gender Differences in Mathematics: What We Know and What We Need to Know
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
INTRODUCING THE PROBLEM
The gender gap in mathematics and science has been an issue of national concern since the mid-1970s because it is a matter of educational equity with far-reaching consequences for the lives of women and their families. As world economies rely increasingly on science and technological innovation, women's limited participation in mathematics and science can adversely affect their employment and economic opportunities.
To conceptualize the relationship between gender and mathematics performance, I turn to the field of mathematics and its terminology. At first glance, the mathematics gender gap appears to be like a mere step function, with male students performing better than females. However, for social scientists, this relationship is better expressed by a complex mathematics equation that includes a constellation of social, psychological, and biological factors. Research evidence from national and cross-national studies showing that the gender gap in mathematics has narrowed over the years and varies across countries, supports social scientists' assertion that this gender gap is rooted in a complex array of social-environmental factors (American Association of University Women [AAUW], 1998; Baker & Jones, 1993; Friedman, 1989; Oakes, 1990). This chapter reviews the contributions that sociological research has made toward understanding the complexity of the gender gap in mathematics.
In a literature review that put together decades of relevant sociological research, Oakes (1990) identified that the gender gap in mathematics test performance involves differences in three domains: opportunity, achievement, and choice.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Gender Differences in MathematicsAn Integrative Psychological Approach, pp. 220 - 245Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
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