Why Girls are Bored with Math

It's long been known that more boys go into math-based careers than do girls. But that doesn't mean girls have any problem with their plusses and minuses.

By Anne Becker, published on May 01, 2003

It's long been known that more boys go into math-based careers than do girls. But that doesn't mean girls have any problem with their plusses and minuses.

Girls shy away from careers in math not because they lack the skills. They just don't see math as useful, according to research from the University of Michigan.

The study, which is based on data collected over 17 years as part of the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions (MSALT), found that girls and boys with similarly gifted math skills ranked the utility of math very differently. Girls placed a much lower value on math than boys.

"Girls do tend to underestimate their math ability in high school, even though their actual performance is just as good as that of the boys," says Jacquelynne Eccles, a professor of psychology and women's studies and a research scientist in the university's Institute for Research on Women and Gender. "But that's not what pushes them away from mathematically based majors. There are two key factors in that decision: how much they believe in the ultimate utility of mathematics, and how much they value working with, and for, people."

These findings might help explain why there are many more men than women in math-based majors and careers, Eccles says.

For example, in 2002, women made up 43percent of the University of Michigan's Medical School class, but only 14 percent of doctoral students in the College of Engineering.

"Boys' beliefs and values are pulling them toward those areas while girls' are pushing them in other directions,"says Eccles.

The MSALT study followed some 1,700 Michigan students from sixth grade through college and beyond, and measured motivation, a wide variety of interests and achievement-related self-concepts.