Thomas Breda, Elyès Jouini and Clotilde Napp (Science March 2018)
In CE2 and 6th grade national assessments, at the brevet or baccalaureate, girls obtain better results than boys. More of them are awarded baccalaureate honors and have easier and more fluid educational paths: they repeat less of a year, are less likely to drop out of the school system, are more likely to pursue higher education, and stay in school for longer periods of time. . But these results, clearly to their advantage, do not prevent their under-representation in scientific fields. However, it is these sectors which lead quite largely to the best paid professions and the highest positions. Girls are less represented in scientific preparatory classes and engineering schools. Doctoral students in science are, in the overwhelming majority, men. The higher we go up the ladder of prestige and expertise, the less women are represented in scientific fields.
At the OECD level, the PISA surveys, Program for International Assessment, reveal that if the gap in average performance in mathematics at the age of 15 between the sexes is indeed narrowing, this is not the case when we look at the students who are most successful: there are, on average, 40% of girls among the 10% of the best students – i.e. those who are likely to pursue studies and high-level careers.
This proportion of 40% of girls is also found in the top 10% in science. On the other hand, it is reversed – 40% boys – when it comes to literary evaluations. Would boys have a more scientific “mind” and girls a more literary “mind”?
By analyzing data from five successive PISA surveys, it appears that the situation is different depending on the country. Those in which girls do less well in math or science are also those in which they do less well in reading. We show that the more unequal a country is in economic terms, the more the performance of girls compared to boys deteriorates.
More than gender-related inequalities, it is inequalities linked to society in general that best explain the underperformance of girls. It is thus income inequalities (Gini index) or measures of inequality linked to the education system, but a priori independent of gender, which best explain the under-representation of girls among the best students in maths. Just one of these variables can explain up to 30% of the differences between countries in the performance gap between girls and boys, and the conjunction of three of them can explain up to 60% of these differences.
Among the most relevant measures of inequality linked to the education system are the proportion of students from disadvantaged socio-economic and cultural backgrounds among the best performing students, as well as disparities in average socio-economic level between schools.
It appears that this relationship between social inequalities and the relative performance of girls in math can be explained by institutional factors: countries with the institutions best able to reduce economic inequalities (high taxation, minimum wage or even high unionization) are also those in which girls perform better in math compared to boys.
Likewise, institutional characteristics of education systems known to be determinants of inclusion or equity, such as the repetition rate or the quality of the education system, are also linked to the relative performance of girls.
These results suggest that the gender gap in math (or science) is a form of social inequality. This gap is shaped by country norms and institutions that may mitigate the effects of bias against social groups that have historically been viewed as having lower status.
The more unequal a country is, the more the difference in status between boys and girls translates into real differences in educational outcomes, in the same way that the more unequal a country is, the lower the proportion of people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. among the highest performing students.
Countries that are generally more equal tend to reduce many forms of inequality, including the gender gap in math and science. Dynamically, we show that it is in countries where income inequalities increase the least that the gaps in math have evolved the most in favor of girls.
Consistent with this hypothesis of a link between the gender gap in mathematics performance and how countries perpetuate or reduce initial status differences, we also find a strong correlation between this gap and indicators of social mobility or economic from one generation to the next within the same family.
To promote girls' performance in math or facilitate their access to certain fields of excellence, tackling stereotypes and gender norms may not be enough. In addition, policies likely to make the school system more fair and inclusive can benefit girls, in addition to of course benefiting students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. France is the champion of the developed world in terms of social inequalities at school (again according to PISA).