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by Psychology Today Editors

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June 10, 2008, Child Development

Explaining the Math Gender Gap

By Guest Blogger

Larry Summers might be long gone, but gender gaps in the math and sciences persist in America. For those who might lean towards Summers' arguments that women's brains aren't wired for math, new research that's been published in Science magazine might help change your mind.

A group of researchers studied 276,000 teenagers in 40 countries by having them take the same tests in math, reading, science, and problem-solving ability. They also assessed the prevailing views about gender equality in each country, e.g. how people answered questions such as "Should women work outside the home?" and "Is it more important for a man to get a college education than a woman?"

The first finding of interest is that the gender gap in math is huge in some countries and non-existent in others. If biology were mostly to blame, we wouldn't expect to find such wide differences. Moreover, the researchers found a correlation between traditional gender attitudes and math scores. In countries that had the most egalitarian views about men and women, the gender gap in math was the smallest. These countries included Iceland, Sweden, and Norway - all countries that are also known for having very progressive policies that help working mothers. The biggest gender gap was found in Turkey; Turkey also scored the lowest on gender equality. The United States fell somewhere in the middle of the countries surveyed.

Adding more evidence are findings that women's scores on math in America have been improving over time, which further suggests that abilities in math are culturally determined. If you are a parent who is concerned about fostering your daughter's interest in the math and science (or at least not dampening them), it may help to do the following:

1) Emphasize to your daughter that math ability is something you learn not something you are born with.
2) Praise her for the effort she exerts not for how "smart" she is.
3) Remind her that tests are a measure of how well you've learned the material, not a measure of academic worth.

But perhaps the most important thing Americans can do as a whole is to start changing their own attitudes about gender and math. The more women demonstrate to younger women that math is about practice, the less likely girls are to label themselves as "bad as math." The future of our world depends on it.