Girls are outperforming boys in Mathematics across all education levels and country income groups, according to a new publication by UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report.
While boys continue to perform better than girls in mathematics in the early years, this advantage gradually disappears as they progress in school.
Girls are demonstrating how well they can do in school when they have access to education. But many, and particularly the most disadvantaged, are not getting the chance to learn at all.
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An annual gender report published since 2011, this year’s publication – Deepening the debate on those still left behind – analysed data from 120 countries in primary and secondary education to offer a global picture.
The analysis covers countries at all income levels on gender gaps in learning outcomes.
It calls for us to think harder about gender inequality and the barriers that hold girls back from realising their potential.
The findings show that in the early years, boys perform better than girls in mathematics but, this gender gap disappears later.
This research confirms that the gender gap in learning has closed even in the poorest countries.
In some countries, the gap is reversed. For example, by grade 8, the gap is in favour of girls in mathematics by 7 points in Malaysia, 3 points in Cambodia, 1.7 points in Congo, and 1.4 points in the Philippines.
Evidence shows that girls are more likely to do better in mathematics in societies where they are treated equally.
However, biases and stereotypes are still likely to affect learning outcomes.
Even though girls catch up in mathematics in upper primary and secondary education, boys are far more likely to be overrepresented among the highest performers in mathematics in all countries.
In middle- and high-income countries, girls in secondary school are scoring significantly higher in science. Despite this advantage, girls are still less likely to opt for scientific careers, indicating that gender biases could still be obstacles to the pursuit of further education in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Further, when girls perform well in mathematics and science, they perform even better in reading. This may be another reason why girls are less likely to opt for STEM careers.
More girls achieve minimum proficiency in reading than boys. The largest gap in primary education is in Saudi Arabia, where 77% of girls but only 51% of boys in grade 4 achieve minimum proficiency in reading.
In Thailand, girls outperform boys in reading by 18 points and in the Dominican Republic by 11 points, and in Morocco by 10 points. Even in countries where girls and boys are at the same level in reading in the early grades, such as for example in Lithuania and Norway, the gap in favour of girls rises to roughly 15 percentage points by age 15.
“Although more data is needed, recent releases have helped paint an almost global picture of gender gaps in learning outcomes right before the pandemic. Girls are doing better than boys in reading and in science and are catching up in mathematics. But they are far less likely to be top performers in mathematics. We need gender equality in learning and ensure that every learner fulfils their potential,” said Manos Antoninis, Director of UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report.