Gender gap: Study finds biggest sex gap in reading and science in gender-equal countries.

A new study reveals that gender differences in educational attainment exist across the world and girls’ opportunities in reading and boys’ in science are greatest in gender-equal countries.

Gender equality often attracts attention especially in fields where women are underrepresented, such as high-profile, high-paying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) jobs.

Academic strength, or a student’s best academic performance, greatly influences the field of study. Students with strengths in math or science gravitate to STEM fields, while those with strengths in reading gravitate to other fields (eg, journalism).

The research team analyzed data from nearly 2.5 million young people in 85 countries over 12 years or five waves (2006-2018) from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Their research confirmed that girls’ strengths tend to be reading, while boys’ strengths are usually math or science. These methods are available in both countries and time.

The findings are published in the journal The Science of Salvation.

Most importantly, sex differences in literacy and numeracy such as educational attainment are more pronounced in countries with high gender equality, such as Finland. On the other hand, gender differences in statistics remained stable regardless of gender equality at the national level.

“These results show that in most gender-equal societies, women may choose fields other than STEM based on their reading ability.” Increasing women’s participation in STEM will require more than just boosting girls’ math and science skills or improving gender equality. ,” says Researcher Dr. Marco Balducci of the INVEST Research Flagship at the University of Turku, Finland.

The finding that gender differences in academic ability in reading and science are larger in the more gender-equal Scandinavian countries than in the more traditional Middle Eastern countries—known as the Gender Equality Paradox—challenges the common belief that the differences gender is influenced mainly by social pressure.

“The conventional wisdom is that as gender equality improves, traditional gender roles should disappear, leading to less gender diversity. But that’s not what we found. Instead , our results are consistent with recent research showing that sex differences may remain the same or increase with increased gender,” says Balducci.

Professor David Geary of the University of Missouri says that “gender-equal, rich, and free countries offer more opportunities and allow greater freedom of choice. In these cases, men and women are make different choices, which leads to greater gender differences in different areas of life, including STEM fields.”

The research team urges policymakers to prioritize mentoring opportunities for talented girls, as this can increase their chances of enrolling in a STEM degree program. However, Balducci adds, “Our research highlights that achieving equality between boys and girls can be challenging as broader factors, such as gender disparities in educational attainment, play an important role in determining gender disparity in STEM.”