scholarly journals Explaining the Gender Gap in Math Test Scores: The Role of Competition

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muriel Niederle ◽  
Lise Vesterlund

The mean and standard deviation in performance on math test scores are only slightly larger for males than for females. Despite minor differences in mean performance, many more boys than girls perform at the right tail of the distribution. This gender gap has been documented for a series of math tests including the AP calculus test, the mathematics SAT, and the quantitative portion of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). The objective of this paper is not to discuss whether the mathematical skills of males and females differ, be it a result of nurture or nature. Rather we argue that the reported test scores do not necessarily match the gender differences in math skills. We will present results that suggest that the evidence of a large gender gap in mathematics performance at high percentiles in part may be explained by the differential manner in which men and women respond to competitive test-taking environments. The effects in mixed-sex settings range from women failing to perform well in competitions, to women shying away from environments in which they have to compete. We find that the response to competition differs for men and women, and in the examined environment, gender difference in competitive performance does not reflect the difference in noncompetitive performance. We argue that the competitive pressures associated with test taking may result in performances that do not reflect those of less-competitive settings. Of particular concern is that the distortion is likely to vary by gender and that it may cause gender differences in performance to be particularly large in mathematics and for the right tail of the performance distribution. Thus the gender gap in math test scores may exaggerate the math advantage of males over females.

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. 257-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Nollenberger ◽  
Núria Rodríguez-Planas ◽  
Almudena Sevilla

This paper investigates the effect of gender-related culture on the math gender gap by analysing math test scores of second-generation immigrants, who are all exposed to a common set of host country laws and institutions. We find that immigrant girls whose parents come from more gender-equal countries perform better (relative to similar boys) than immigrant girls whose parents come from less gender-equal countries, suggesting an important role of cultural beliefs on the role of women in society on the math gender gap. The transmission of cultural beliefs accounts for at least two thirds of the overall contribution of gender-related factors.


EGALITA ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makkulau Makkulau

Gender gap was influenced mathematical ability between boys and girls. Stereotypes about women’s position lower in mathematics is a contrasting landscape and different from the data and scientific facts. The result of re- search in 69 countries with gender equality shows that teenage girls tend to have a math test scores higher. In addition, young women also tend to do about the matter of better and more confident in their ability in the field of math. The results of this study also showed that young women have the same ability with young men when they are given an equal education, espe- cially in mathematics.<br /><br />Keywords: kesenjangan gender, matematika, stereotip, data dan fakta ilmiah.<br /><br />


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. A35-A35
Author(s):  
J. F. L.

Will permitting the use of calculators artificially increase SAT math test scores? A. Not at all, so they should be allowed. B. Yes, so they should be banned. C. Only marginally, so they should be allowed—but scores should be adjusted to offset the effect. The folks who run the Scholastic Aptitude Test, which will allow the use of calculators during the college entrance examination starting next year, initially said the correct answer was A. Critics insisted the right answer was B. Now, after a field test on calculator use involving 200,000 students last spring, the testing service has disclosed that C is their answer.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Anna Xheka

Women’s entrepreneurship is a powerful source, regarding to the women’s economic independence and empowerment, as well as regarding employment generation, economic growth and innovation, development and the reduction of poverty as well as one of the terms of gender equality. This poster presents the situation of women's entrepreneurship in Europe in comparative terms, with special focus in Albania. The paper has a descriptive nature. Describes three different plans in comparative terms; the representation of men and women in entrepreneurship, the representation of women in entrepreneurship in different countries of Europe and of Europe as a whole, as well as compare to gender quota. Through the processing of secondary data from various reports and studies, this poster concludes that although that the gender equality goal is the equal participation of men and women in all sectors, including the entrepreneurship, in this sector, gender gap it is still deep. Another significant comparative aspect, it is the difference between full and part –time women entrepreneurship. While in full time entrepreneurship in a convince way, men are those that dominate, in part time entrepreneurship clearly it’s evident the opposite trend, women's representation is much higher. It’s very interesting the fact, that the women’s entrepreneurship in Albania, presented in a significant optimistic situation, ranking in the second place, after Greece in the European level


FIKROTUNA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
ABD WARITS

In the history of women's life, the woman has never cracked from the wild cry of helplessness. Woman always become victim of men’s egoism, marginalized, hurt, unfettered, fooled and never appreciated the presence and role. This situation troubles many intellectual Muslims who have perspective that Islam teaches equality, equality for all human beings in the world. The difference in skin color, race, tribe and nation, as well as gender does not cause them to get the status of the different rights and obligations. The potential and the right to life of every human being and the obligation to serve the Lord Almighty is the same. Indeed, all human beings, as caliph in the world, have the same obligation, namely to prosperity of life in the world. No one is allowed to act arbitrarily, destroying, or hurt among others. They are required to live side by side, united, and harmonious, help each other and respect each other. However, that "demand" never becomes a reality. The differences among human identities become a barrier and the cause of divisions. For them, those who are outside environment, different identities are "others" who rightly do not need them "know". The difference of identity has become a reason to allow "hurt" each other. Several intellectual Muslims who recognize the wrong (discrimination against women), and then they attempt to formulate a movement for women's liberation. All the efforts have been done on the basis of awareness that arbitrary action by any person can never be justified. They also realize, that the backwardness of women are "stumbling block" that will lead to the resignation of a civilization. However, this struggle found a lot of challenges; including the consideration of "insubordination" to conquer the power of men, despite it had done by using many strategies. Starting from the writing of scientific book and countless fiction themed women has been published in order to give awareness of equality between men and women. This paper seeks to reexamine the process of the empowerment struggle to give a brand new concept, so that the struggle of women empowerment is not as insubordination and curiosity process in an attempt to conquer the male. Through approach of literature review and observations on the relationship between men and women, the writer finally concluded that the movement of Islamic feminism is not a movement to seize the power of men, but an attempt to liberate women from oppression so that they get the rights of their social role, giving freedom for women to pursue a career as wide as possible like a man, without forgetting a main duty as a mother: to conceive, give birth and breastfeed their children.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 1163
Author(s):  
Sundaram Kartikeyan ◽  
Aniruddha A. Malgaonkar

Background: This complete-enumeration, before-and-after type of study (without controls) was conducted on 61 third-year medical students at Rajiv Gandhi Medical College, Thane, Maharashtra state to study the difference in cognitive domain scores after attending lecture-based learning (by a pre-test) and after attending case-based learning (by a post-test).Methods: After approval from the institutional ethics committee, the purpose of the study was explained to third-year medical students and written informed consent was obtained. After curriculum-based lectures on integrated management of neonatal and childhood Illness, a pre-test was administered wherein each student was asked to fill up case sheets for five case scenarios. The maximum marks obtainable were 10 marks per case (total 50 marks).  Case-based learning was conducted in two sub-groups comprising 31 and 30 randomly assigned students by the same faculty and students in each sub-group were exposed to identical case scenarios. The post-test was conducted using case scenarios and case sheets that were identical to that of the pre-test.Results: The overall mean score increased and the difference between the case-wise pre-test and post-test scores of both female (n=35) and male (n=26) students was highly significant (p <0.00001). However, the gender differences in pre-test score (Z=1.038; p=0.299) and post-test score were not significant (Z=0.114; p=0.909).Conclusions: Using case scenarios augmented the cognitive domain scores of participating students and the gender differences in scores were not statistically significant. The post-test scores showed higher variability. Remedial educational interventions would be required for students who obtained low scores in the post-test.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Semra Sevi ◽  
Vincent Arel-Bundock ◽  
André Blais

AbstractWe study data on the gender of more than 21,000 unique candidates in all Canadian federal elections since 1921, when the first women ran for seats in Parliament. This large data set allows us to compute precise estimates of the difference in the electoral fortunes of men and women candidates. When accounting for party effects and time trends, we find that the difference between the vote shares of men and women is substantively negligible (±0.5 percentage point). This gender gap was larger in the 1920s (±2.5 percentage points), but it is now statistically indistinguishable from zero. Our results have important normative implications: political parties should recruit and promote more women candidates because they remain underrepresented in Canadian politics and because they do not suffer from a substantial electoral penalty.


SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A315-A315
Author(s):  
C M Baldwin ◽  
D G Link ◽  
D W Coon ◽  
S F Quan

Abstract Introduction This work compares sleep knowledge of community-dwelling older adult men and women. Methods Data were derived from a community-based sleep training program that assessed pre- and post-test knowledge of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), Insomnia, short sleep duration (SSD), restless leg syndrome (RLS), circadian rhythm disorders (CRD), and drowsy driving (DD) on a 1 (none) to 5 (great deal of knowledge) Likert-like scale. Data were analyzed with frequencies for age, sex, and sources of sleep information, and ANOVA to determine gender differences using SPSS (V24) with significance set at p&lt;.05. Results Participants (N=158; 68% women) were 56 years and older residing in a retirement community. Pre-test means±standard deviations showed women versus men had greater knowledge of Insomnia (3.5±1.3 vs. 2.9±1.0, p=.004) whereas men showed more knowledge of DD (3.2±1.1 vs. 2.6±1.3, p=.01). A trend was noted for women to have greater knowledge of SSD (3.6±1.2 vs. 3.2±1.0, p=.05). Post-test ANOVA showed a further increase in Insomnia knowledge for women versus men (4.4±0.8 vs. 4.1±0.7, p=.04); however, overall pre/post-test scores for each of the sleep disorders across men and women increased significantly at the p&lt;.001 level. Notably, more women to men reported accessing various resources for sleep information: newspapers/magazines (46:7), friends/family (29:9), the internet (25:11), TV (37:7), and physicians/nurses (45:20). Conclusion Findings indicate, prior to sleep training, women have greater knowledge of insomnia and short sleep duration, while men have more knowledge of drowsy driving. Women’s greater understanding of insomnia persists even after sleep training; however, pre- to post-test scores for both sexes across sleep disorders show significant learning outcomes. One possible reason for women’s greater knowledge of insomnia and short sleep could be their greater likelihood to access information on health and healthy lifestyle factors, including sleep, as well as their greater health care utilization. Support N/A


1997 ◽  
Vol 1607 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul van Beek ◽  
Nelly Kalfs ◽  
Ursula Blom

As in many other countries, a growing number of women in the Netherlands are entering the labor market. The difference between male and female participation in paid work is decreasing, and more men are taking care of domestic duties. It is expected that these changes will lead to growing numbers of task combiners and to more similar patterns of travel behavior for men and women. The intention of the present research is to investigate these expectations for the situation in the Netherlands. For this goal two groups of time budget data for the period from 1975 to 1990 were analyzed. The focus was on gender differences in trends in time use and mobility. The results indicate that between 1975 and 1990, the distribution of paid work and domestic work by men and women changed, more men and women were performing combinations of obligatory tasks, gender differences in mobility became smaller, and car use, both for men and for women, depended heavily on the workload of an out-of-home paid job.


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