Study: Girls can be as good as boys in mathematics

By Wachira Kigotho

In last year’s KCSE exams female students attained a mean score of 24.8 per cent in Mathematics compared to 27.8 per cent for male counterparts.

Similar performance disparity was also reflected in the previous year’s results when girls attained a mean of 19.71 per cent while boys scored a mean of 25.75 per cent in the subject.

However, such gender disparities in maths are almost non-existent in developed countries in both primary and secondary levels. Analysing results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests in 86 developed countries, researchers have found no achievement gap between mean scores of boys and girls in basic education.

"Our findings are evidence there is nothing to suggest girls are inherently brain-wired to be inferior in maths," says Jonathan Kane, a maths and computer science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and co-author of the study.

Nonetheless, statistics in Kenya and elsewhere in sub-Saharan African show girls always lag behind their male counterparts in maths. Frequently, such statistics are being used to promote educational stereotypes that women are generally inferior in the subject. Unfortunately, some girls have come to believe they are conditionally brain-wired to be poor in maths and that there is nothing they can do about it.

Gender disparity in maths performance is more pronounced in university education, where women are marginalised in degree programmes that require maths.

Male’s subject

"Of the students who gain access to public universities, a much smaller proportion of girls than boys register for maths and science-based courses," says a study by the National Council for Science and Technology.

For instance, in the last five years, males constituted the largest proportion of students in science and maths-based degree programmes in public universities.

An analysis carried by the council showed agricultural, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering courses had the least number of female students.

However, marginalisation of girls in various professions could be addressed by debunking myths about gender disparities in maths. According to Dr Janet Mertz, a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin and a co-author of the study that recently analysed the global academic assessment tests, boys and girls may be born similar in their innate intellectual potential but end up displaying differences.

"Gender stratification is in the environment and cultural factors and not in biology, as we also found boys in low scores compared to girls in some countries," said Mertz.

In their study, the two researchers also discounted religion or national income as factors that engineered gender differences in maths performance. But whereas, national income was not a factor, household poverty was identified as an element that can influence gender discrimination and eventually lead to poor academic performance.

Such is the case in Kenya where in some communities, the culture of marginalisation and discrimination of girls in education has persisted.

Besides, the cultural practice of division of labour – stereotyping of knowledge and skills given to girls and boys – has tended to relegate girls to occupations such as nursing, social work and home economics, while courses that require high standards of performance in maths are left in boys’ domain.

Gender disparities in academic performance and more so in maths are also deeply embedded in poor households that are forced to make choice as to whom to send to school. According to the Unesco, on average, school drop out rates in sub-Saharan Africa are higher among girls compared to boys as a result of schooling choices made by households in abject poverty. Subsequently, access to formal schooling and academic performance among girls is compromised.

However, under those circumstances, there is no room for war between genders on academic performance in maths in Kenya as there are many barriers to schooling that usually mask gender conflict agenda. Despite introduction of the free primary education in 2003, completion rates are still low for both boys and girls.

Studies by Unesco’s Southern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality indicate minimum levels of reading, arithmetic and life skills are far from being achieved.

Teaching factor

But the overall issue of poor performance in maths by either gender cannot be wished away, taking into account that most students are schooling without acquiring expected numerate skills. Whereas 10 per cent of pupils in Class Eight cannot divide, some students sitting KCSE cannot perform mathematical operations set for the KCPE level.

"It is difficult to believe many candidates still score zero marks in KCSE Maths papers and yet some of the questions are set from concepts drawn from primary education level," says Marguerite Miheso of Kenyatta University.

However, the issue of students scoring zero in maths is not necessarily gender related but it is based on how maths as a subject is taught in schools. According to Miheso, while many teachers could explain how to solve mathematical problems, they could not explain the rationale behind the procedure.

"Others lack deep and connected content knowledge of teaching maths," says Miheso.

Interestingly, researchers have also noted that underachievement in maths in some schools in the country are linked to poor performance in English. Kenya National Examinations Council has noted that inability of some students to interpret mathematical concepts was because of their proficiency levels in English.

Additionally, students’ attitude has been cited as a significant factor that influences learning of maths in Kenya. For instance, boys’ attitude towards maths is motivated by what they wish to become after school, while cultural factors tend to shape girls’.

But while the society tries to address issues affecting girls’ entry to technical professions, it is vital to realise ability in maths and sciences has nothing to do with one’s biology. As Dr Mertz and Prof Kane found out, boys as well as girls perform better in maths when raised in countries with equal opportunities for all.