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Study debunks myths about gender differences in math ability
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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A major study examining school math performance challenges some common assumptions about gender differences in math achievement, particularly that girls and women have lower math abilities because of biological differences.
"We tested some recently proposed hypotheses that attempt to explain gender differences in math ability and found that they were not supported by the evidence," said Janet Mertz, lead author of the study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Instead, the researchers linked differences in math ability to sociocultural factors. They analyzed data from 86 countries, which they used to refute the "great male variability hypothesis," proposed in 2005 by Lawrence Summers, as the main reason for the dearth of outstanding female mathematicians.
Using international data, the authors note that in most countries men have not had significant achievements in mathematics. Therefore, the phenomenon of male "mathematical superiority" is more related to socio-cultural aspects than to biological characteristics of the sexes.
The new study draws on data from the 2007 International Mathematics Survey and the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment.
After examining the data in detail, the authors noted that boys living in some Middle Eastern countries, such as Bahrain and Oman, performed worse in math than girls. The scientists linked this pattern to cultural tradition: most boys attend religious schools, and the curriculum includes few hours of math. For these reasons, it is entirely justified to attribute differences in math ability primarily to the socio-cultural plane.
To measure women's status relative to men in each country, the authors relied on a gender gap index that compares the two sexes in terms of income, education, health, and political participation. By linking these indices to math ability, they found that science achievement for both boys and girls tends to be higher in countries where gender equality exists.
"We found that boys and girls do better in math in countries where women are not disadvantaged," Kane says.
No studies have shown that innate biological differences between the sexes are the main cause of the gender gap in math ability. The gap is due to sociocultural factors that vary across countries.