Girls rate their mathematics abilities markedly lower than boys, even when there is no observable difference between the two, a US study found. Confidence influences critical choices including maths and science courses in school, which college, majors and potential careers.
"The argument continues to be made that gender differences in the 'hard' sciences is all about ability," said Lara Perez-Felkner, assistant professor of higher education and sociology in the College of Education at Florida State University.
"But when we hold mathematics ability test scores constant, effectively taking it out of the equation, we see boys still rate their ability higher, and girls rate their ability lower."
The research team found perception gaps are even wider at the upper levels of mathematics ability – among those students with the most talent and potential in these fields. Boys are significantly more confident in challenging mathematics contexts than otherwise identically talented girls. Specifically, boys rated their ability 27% higher than girls did.
Perceived ability under challenge was measured using a nationally representative longitudinal study that followed 10th grade students over a six-year period until two years after high school. A series of questions in the 10th and 12th grade surveys asked students to indicate their level of agreement with statements such as "I'm certain I can understand the most difficult material presented in math texts."
"That's important because those confidence levels influence the math and science courses students choose later in high school," Perez-Felkner said. "It influences whether they choose colleges that are strong in certain science majors. It also influences the majors they intend to pursue and the majors they actually declare and continue on with in degrees and potential careers."
These conclusions address perceived ability beliefs in a critical time where more talented young women tend to depart from male-dominated science career pathways during high school and college.
Over recent decades and across the globe women have surpassed men in college enrollment and degree attainment yet women remain underrepresented in physical, engineering, mathematics and computer sciences (PEMC). In fact, women are projected to comprise nearly 60% of university students by 2025 but earn a clear minority of PEMC undergraduate degrees.
Perez-Felkner and colleagues argue gender differences in confidence in their mathematics ability in challenging contexts has considerable longer term consequences.
Gender disparities in college major choice are associated with the gender pay gap as well as an insufficiently large and diverse labor pool of scientific talent in some of the highest-growing fields in our increasingly scientific global economy.
The authors note boys are encouraged from a young age to pursue challenge – including the risk of failure – while girls tend to pursue perfection, judging themselves and being judged by more restrictive standards reinforced by media and society at large.
In middle and high school, increased opportunities such as science camps like SciGirls, recruitment of girls to participate in upper level science courses or extracurricular activities, informal science learning experiences and increasing visibility and access to women scientists both fictional and real are other methods to sustain girls interest and engagement in so called "hard science" fields.
Increasing access to advanced science coursework in high school and the early years of post-secondary school can improve chances of students – most notably girls – entering these fields.
Other results included: women have a 4.7% chance of declaring PEMC majors compared to 14.9% of men; girls in the 12th grade with most negative perceptions had a 1.8% chance of choosing a PEMC major, while girls with the most positive perceptions about their ability under challenge had a 5.6% chance of choosing a PEMC major; boys had a 19.1% chance if their perceptions were positive and boys with negative perceptions had 6.7% chance of choosing a PEMC major; boys are more likely than girls to hold a growth mindset, that is, the perception that mathematical ability can be developed through learning rather than being a fixed talent you are born with; tenth grade mathematics ability under challenge was most influential in determining whether students stayed in the natural sciences when pursuing postsecondary education; and mathematics ability beliefs in the 12th grade were positively associated with switching into natural science majors, among students not initially intending to pursue them.
Abstract
Do mathematics ability beliefs explain gender gaps in the physical science, engineering, mathematics, and computer science fields (PEMC) and other science fields? We leverage U.S. nationally representative longitudinal data to estimate gendered differences in girls' and boys' perceptions of mathematics ability with the most difficult or challenging material. Our analyses examine the potentially interacting effects of gender and these ability beliefs on students' pathways to scientific careers. Specifically, we study how beliefs about ability with challenging mathematics influence girls' and boys' choices to pursue PEMC degrees, evaluating educational milestones over a 6-year period: advanced science course completion in secondary school and postsecondary major retention and selection. Our findings indicate even at the same levels of observed ability, girls' mathematics ability beliefs under challenge are markedly lower than those of boys. These beliefs matter over time, potentially tripling girls' chances of majoring in PEMC sciences, over and above biological science fields, all else being equal. Implications and potential interventions are discussed.
Authors
Lara Perez-Felkner, Samantha Nix, Kirby Thomas
[link url="http://news.fsu.edu/news/2017/04/06/challenge-girls-confidence-level-not-math-ability-hinders-path-science-degrees/"]Florida State University material[/link]
[link url="http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00386/full"]Frontiers in Psychology abstract[/link]