Gender and Mathematics Essay - 944 Words

Mathematics is acknowledged as a hard subject. People who are good at it are considered to belong to a sort of elite. Usually to be â€Å"accepted† in this elite you have to fulfill some requirements and most of them are related with a specific gender. â€Å"Math is a God’s gift for boys.† This has been the perception of society for a long time. The majority thinks that the nature of mathematics goes along mostly with masculine attributes, thus, males are more focused on it. Therefore, according to these people boys by default get to be better in math, with girls being excluded from any kind of decent relation with this field of study. Even though this perception of boys being better in mathematics than the opposite gender is the opinion of†¦show more content†¦The supporters of this perspective follow that the plain reason behind this involvement is that men are generally better in this field. Moreover, according to a research conducted by Kyriakides an d Antoniou boys are more predisposed to fulfill harder math related tasks better than girls (1). This proves the idea that boys’ achievements in math are higher than those of girls. Secondly, there are people who belong to the other extreme that affirm that girls outperform boys in the science of numbers. Several researches were conducted to evaluate the performance of both genders based on their grades in high school. The statistical results of a research in Wales show that 50% of boys and 51% of girls achieved grades A*-C in mathematics (Cann 1). The outcome of data displayed that girls’ abilities in this relevant field exceed those of boys. However, girls choose not to attend these mathematics-related majors. Rather they decide to concentrate in the biochemical sciences in order to be a part of the difference in the world by generating change (Weinstock par. 1). Other advocates of this approach go far beyond explaining that there are more reasons why girls choose n ot to devote their selves to mathematics. The participation in this particular field is affected by numerous factors such as anxiety, self-confidence and enjoyment. Females tend to have negative emotions regarding these factors and math in general. The reason behind theseShow MoreRelated Human Gender and Mathematics Essay1381 Words   |  6 PagesHuman Gender and Mathematics Is there a difference in the mathematical ability between men and women? Historians have no precise method of quantifying or comparing their individual accomplishments (Olsen). Not only in mathematics, but also in many other career areas in the past, women were looked upon as inferior to their male counterparts. Women were not encouraged to pursue a career in mathematics. 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