Newswise Blog

Monday, October 11, 2010

Large Study Shows Females Are Equal to Males in Math Skills

From University of Wisconsin-Madison

In 2005, Lawrence H. Summers, President of Harvard University, were less likely to succeed in math and science because of their gender. 

Most people agreed that his remarks were insensitive and sexist, but now, new research shows, scientifically, just how wrong he was. 

The mathematical skills of boys and girls, as well as men and women, are substantially equal, according to a new examination of existing studies in the current online edition of journal Psychological Bulletin.

One portion of the new study looked systematically at 242 articles that assessed the math skills of 1,286,350 people, says chief author Janet Hyde, a professor of psychology and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

These studies, all published in English between 1990 and 2007, looked at people from grade school to college and beyond. A second portion of the new study examined the results of several large, long-term scientific studies, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

In both cases, Hyde says, the difference between the two sexes was so close as to be meaningless.

Read the full article here.