Economics serving society

T. Breda - Too good in reading to study math ? (December 2019)

In a few words

The gender differences in mathematics performance in developed countries are small and by themselves do not really explain the significant under-representation of women in maths-related fields.

Thomas Breda (CNRS/PSE) and Clotilde Napp (Dauphine) use individual data from 300,000 15 year-old pupils in 64 countries to bring a new perspective to the debate by also taking into account student performance in the humanities. They show that girls are more often much better than boys in the arts than in mathematics and that they present themselves as more literary than scientific. This “comparative advantage” of girls in letters over maths thus explains, according to Breda and Napp, almost all the differences between the sexes in relation to maths (their declared interest in mathematics, self-confidence in the subject, etc.) and three quarters of the gap in terms of study and career goals.

References of the academic paper

« Girls’ comparative advantage in reading can largely explain the gender gap in math-related fields » PNAS July 30, 2019 116 (31) 15435-15440; first published July 15, 2019

Authors


Press review

  • PBS, 15/07/2019 Girls’ superb verbal skills may contribute to the gender gap in math. While most girls excelled at reading over math, boys tended to show the opposite trend. Though there was no evidence to show that girls were doing poorly in math, their scores at age 15 seemed to reflect that they had a relative edge in the verbal department—one that had a big effect on their intentions for the future...
  • Detroit CBS Local, 16/07/2019 Study Shows Girls Are Better At Reading, Contributes To Gender Gap In STEM. Girls also internalize social cues and stereotypes about who is good at math and science from a young age, says Erin Hogeboom of the National Girls Collaborative Project, which works to encourage girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers...
  • PRI, 16/07/2019 - Girls aren’t bad at math. They’re just awesome at reading. You know the stereotype — boys are better than girls at math — and that’s why more boys than girls enter STEM fields. That’s not true. A new study shows that girls are just as good as boys in math. But they’re even better at reading...
  • Phys Org, 17/07/2019 Study suggests girls’ advantage in reading explains gender gap in math fields. Prior research has suggested that social factors play a strong role, such as a perception of such work as non-feminine—including the views of women who may want to go into such a field, others in the field, and society at large. In this new effort, the researchers suggest that there may also be another reason—girls are better with reading and communication skills...
  • Physics World, 19/07/2019 Girls’ reading ability drives the science gender gap, claims study. The researchers claim that these differences “can explain up to 80% of the gender gap in intentions to pursue maths-studies and careers”. They add that the contrast in reading and maths ability between 15-year-old girls and boys “is likely to be determined by earlier socialization processes”...
  • Le Figaro, 26/07/2019 Orientation: les filles sont bonnes en lettres. Dans la quasi-totalité des pays développés, la proportion de femmes étudiant l’ingénierie ou l’informatique n’évolue pas, expliquent les chercheurs dans un article publié en juin par la revue scientifique américaine PNAS. Elles ne sont que 20 % aux États-Unis ou en France...
  • The Irish Times, 07/08/2019 - Two positives make a negative for gender bias in Stem. This isn’t a prosaic “girls read good, boys crunch numbers” study. It’s already well-established that diversity in any discipline or industry makes for improved research/product design outcomes. The authors dispute any implication that the results indicate girls don’t have what it takes to succeed in technical careers…
  • Star Tribune, 11/08/2019 The STEM gender gap might be tied to girls’ superior reading skills. In just a few countries, including Turkey and Malaysia, the proportion of girls interested in studying math was higher than it was for boys. But in most other countries, boys had the edge over girls. The most extreme example was Switzerland, where 68% of boys and 47% of girls said they were willing to take additional math classes, Napp said...