Traditionhasitthatboysaregoodatcountingandgirlsaregoodatreading.SomuchsothatMattelonceproducedatalkingBarbiedollwhosestockofphrasesincluded“Mathclassistough!”
Althoughmuchismadeofdifferencesbetweenthebrainsofadultmalesandfemalesthesourcesofthesedifferencesareamatterofcontroversy.Somepeopleputforwardculturalexplanationsandnoteforexamplethatwhengirlsaretaughtseparatelyfromboystheyoftendobetterinsubjectssuchasmathsthanifclassesaremixed.Othersclaimthatthedifferencesarerootedinbiologyaretherefrombirthandexistbecausegirls’andboys’brainshaveevolvedtohandleinformationindifferentways.
LuigiGuisooftheEuropeanUniversityInstitutehasjustpublishedtheresultsofastudywhichsuggeststhatcultureexplainsmostofthedifferenceinmathsat1east.Inthisweek’sSciencetheyshowthatthegapinmathematicsscoresbetweenboysandgirlsvirtuallydisappearsincountrieswithhighlevelsofsexualequalitythoughthereadinggapremains.
Dr.Guisotookdatafromthe2003OECDProgrammeforInternationalStudentAssessment.Onaveragegirls’mathsscoreswerelowerthanthoseofboys.Howeverthegapwaslargestincountrieswiththeleastequalitybetweenthesexeswhileitvanishedincountrieswherethesexesaremoreor1essequaltooneanother.Theresearchersalsodidsomeadditionalstatisticalcheckstoensurethecorrelationwasmaterial.Theysaytheirdatathereforeshowthatimprovementsinmathsscoresarerelatednottoeconomicdevelopmentbutdirectlytoimprovementsinthesocialpositionofwomen.Howeverthegapinreadingscoresnotonlyremainedbutgotbiggerasthesexesbecamemoreequal.Averagereadingscoreswerehigherforgirlsthanforboysinallcountries.
Thissuggestsaninterestingparadox.Atfirstsightgirls’risetomathematicalequalitysuggeststheyshouldbeinvadingmaths-heavyprofessionssuchasengineering—andthatiftheyarenottheimplicationmightbethatprejudiceiskeepingthemout.HoweverasDavidRicardoobservedalmost200yearsagoeconomicoptimisationisaboutcomparativeadvantage.Theriseinfemalereadingscoresalongsidetheirmathsscoressuggeststhatfemalecomparativeadvantageinthisareahasnotchanged.Accordi