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A major international test has revealed a concerning gender gap in math among Australian school students.

In the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Australia's boys did much better than girls.

Year 4 boys outperformed girls by the equal highest margin out of 58 countries that did the test. The story is not much better for Year 8 students—Australia had the 12th-largest gender gap of the 42 countries.

This is out of character , such as literacy, where the gender gap is either much smaller, or girls outperform boys.

Why is there a gap?

International researchers of a gender gap in math for decades and have been .

It has boys are just better at mathematics than girls. However, this has been thoroughly debunked, with finding no statistically significant biological difference between boys and girls in math ability.

Yet figures girls are under-represented in the most advanced math courses at school. For example, for the two most advanced Year 11 and 12 courses in New South Wales, girls are outnumbered by a ratio of roughly two to one.

A 'boys' subject?

Studies suggest are playing a part in the math gender gap.

Research has found , with math being seen as a "boys' subject." These ideas start developing from an early age, even as .

These stereotypes can negatively impact in math and their self-efficacy (their perception of how well they can do), which then impacts performance.

Girls are also more likely to , which may be due to lacking confidence in their ability.

Another possible reason for this gap is for girls themselves to be seen as skilled at math as it is for boys. This has been linked to differences in subject engagement and subsequent performance.

Given how important are for workplaces today and in the future, we need to change these attitudes.

What can we do?

Unfortunately, there are no simple answers. However, we recommend three strategies to help narrow the gap.

1. Treat boys and girls equally when it comes to math: there is a to expect boys to engage in more challenging math than girls. If parents and teachers expect less from girls, we are that math is "more suited to boys." Simply holding beliefs that boys are better at math can result in with or giving more attention to boys in math. It can also be seen in behaviors where we think we are being supportive, such as reassuring a struggling girl, "it's ok if you're not great at math!"

2. Talk to girls about math: girls when correlated with their actual achievement. This means girls potentially have inaccurate beliefs about their ability. So we need to understand how they feel they are progressing and make sure they understand their genuine progress.

3. Make use of female math role models: when girls see themselves represented in math-intensive careers—such as engineers, actuaries, chemists, economists, data scientists, architects and software developers—they are more likely to see the importance and value of math. We know this can young people.

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