Boys and girls can do equally well in math

In a recent study in Science, one of the world’s leading journals, they “analyzed data from more than 276,000 children in 40 countries who took the 2003 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) – the internationally standardised test of maths, reading, science and problem-solving ability.”

Globally,  boys do better than girls in math, with boys  scoring 10.5 points higher than girls on average. However, in societies where boys and girls are treated equally, like Iceland, Sweden, and Norway, boys and girls perform equally well in math. This result suggests that any gender difference in math performance can be attributed more to nurture (e.g., education, resources, and opportunities) than to nature (intrinsic ability).

see the article here