4 ms·
Well, I can do better than that in 5 minutes but that's because I have paid a lot of attention to this question. I think the most conclusive evidence that M/F
by frossie 17y ago
Well, I can do better than that in 5 minutes but that's because I have paid a lot of attention to this question.
I think the most conclusive evidence that M/F math gaps are cultural in origin lies in international studies, where the gap ranges from negligible in progressive countries (eg. Scandinavia) to massive in less equal societies (eg Turkey).
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-136-1-103.pdf http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-136-1-103.pdf
Generally the anglo-saxon socities (UK, USA, Australia) are "middling" in this.
Of course this only covers "normal" math abilities (ie the ability to understand school/college math). "Genius" level ability is a lot harder to quantify, partly because it is such small number statistics and there are many confounding social variables to do with access to and selection pressures of post-graduate education.
- yummyfajitas 17y agoJust curious, why do you believe Scandinavia is more equal than the US, UK or Australia?
- frossie 17y agoJust curious, why do you believe Scandinavia is more equal than the US, UK or Australia? Gender equality metrics, eg. see the World Economic Forum report, generated from "hard" indicators: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/rankings2008.pdf http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/rankings2008.pdf where the top 3 countries are Scandinavian (4 if you include Iceland). On the same list, the UK is 13th, Australia is 21st, and the USA is 27th. This list is consistent with my own impressions. You will also note the reasonably high correlation with the math gap list I referenced upthread.
- michael_nielsen 17y agoWanted to do more than upvote this - after a quick read, the linked paper seems an unusually useful resource on this subject, and I certainly recommend others take a look. Thanks for the link!