On this page, you’ll find links to recommended research and articles that consider how issues around gender affect participation in maths. Short descriptions of each report are included to help you decide which to look at in more depth.
Many studies have been carried out to look into the impact of gender on performance and participation in STEM subjects. The most recent and relevant ones to mathematics are below. If you’re interested in further reading, you can download our summary with relevant links and descriptions.
Adding Up Peer Beliefs: Experimental and Field Evidence on the Effect of Peer Influence on Math Performance
Sherry Jueyu Wu and Xiqian Cai, 2023
Research into whether gendered beliefs about intellectual abilities transmit through peers and impact girls’ academic performance relative to boys’. The findings highlight how the prevalence of stereotypical beliefs, in a person’s ambient and peer environment, can shape their belief and academic ability – even when those stereotypes can be readily contradicted.
Gender and Participation in Mathematics and Further Mathematics: Final Report for the Further Mathematics Support Programme
Cathy Smith & Jennie Golding, 2017
Following on from the Gender Literature Review, this report includes case studies of schools that have been successful in increasing girls participation at A level. The strategies they use are compared with the five factors that are known to affect students’ intentions to continue with maths and recommendations given.
Applying Behavioural Insights to increase female students’ uptake of STEM subjects at A Level
Department for Education, Behavioural Insights Team, 2020
This research tests the effectiveness of interventions based on behavioural insights theory, with the aim of increasing the number of high-achieving female students choosing STEM subjects at A Level. The principle mechanism was improving perceptions of the utility of STEM subjects. The secondary mechanism was designed to improve students’ self-concept and expectations of success in STEM.
Confidence and competence with mathematical procedures
Colin Foster, 2015
Confidence assessment (CA), in which students state alongside each of their answers a confidence level expressing how certain they are, has been employed successfully within higher education. This study explores CA with secondary pupils and the connection between confidence and competence.
UK Mathematics 14-19: the Gender Jigsaw
Jennie Golding, UCL IoE, January 2022
A Report for the Joint Mathematical Council of the United Kingdom
There is persistent evidence that the UK has an inadequate ‘pipeline’ to the mathematics needed for personal and societal thriving. Also, participation in that pipeline post-16 is significantly skewed towards males. This short report gives some key findings and recommendations that are particularly useful with regards to encouraging participation in mathematics beyond GCSE level.
Gender comparisons of pupils' self-confidence in mathematics learning
Hannula, M.S., Maijala, H., Pehkonen, E., & Nurmi, A., 2005
The paper analyses pupils’ mathematical beliefs about themselves, and beliefs about achievement in maths. Pupils’ beliefs about themselves as learners of maths are strongly connected with their general attitudes toward maths and their success in the subject.
The Impact of Gender Stereotypes on the Self-Concept of Female Students in STEM Subjects with an Under-Representation of Females
Bernhard Ertl, Silke Luttenberger and Manuela Paechter, 2017
Self-concept is formed through experience and interpretations of one’s environment as it regards feelings of self-confidence, competence, and ability. The external frame of reference is guided by a social comparison of one’s own achievements with those of peers. The internal frame of reference is guided by a comparison with abilities in other subjects. Students with the higher academic self-concept will advance in their achievements over the course of time while the others will lag.
Even among elite students, boys are more confident than girls in maths
Forbes article. Mark Travers, 2020
A summary of the results from a study by Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). More girls report being motivated to enter a maths competition due to teacher encouragement than boys do and that teachers are more influential in boosting their interest in maths. The study also suggests that the value of an encouraging teacher cannot be understated.