\n“Vital statistics: Girls are becoming as good as boys at mathematics, and are still better at reading”<\/a> [h\/t \/etc<\/a> list]<\/p>\n
ABC News<\/em> story the original study in Science Magazine<\/em>: “Diversity: Culture, Gender, and Math”<\/a> [restricted access] & Supporting Online Material<\/a><\/p>\n “The existence (1), degree (2), and origin (3, 4) of a gender gap (difference between girls’ and boys’ scores) in mathematics are highly debated. Biologically based explanations for the gap rely on evidence that men perform better in spatial tests, whereas women do better in verbal recall ones (1, 5, 6). However, the performance differences are small, and their link with math test performance is tenuous (7). By contrast, social conditioning and gender-biased environments can have very large effects on test performance (8).<\/p>\n To assess the relative importance of biological and cultural explanations, we studied gender differences in test performance across countries (9). Cultural inequalities range widely across countries (10), whereas results from cognitive tests do not (6). We used data from the 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that reports on 276,165 15-year-old students from 40 countries who took identical tests in mathematics and reading (11, 12). The tests were designed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to be free of cultural biases. They are sufficiently challenging that only 0.6% of the U.S. students tested perform at the 99th percentile of the world distribution.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n below the fold, some commentary in romanian (english quotes) din pacate nu are date si despre romania, si nici cercetarea pe care s-au bazat pentru comparatia intre performanta fetelor si baietilor la mate si citire in diferite tari nu include info despre ro.: PISA data<\/p>\n The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an every-three-year<\/p>\n international survey of 15-year-old students aimed at determining their knowledge and<\/p>\n skills in different domains. We analyze data from the second cycle, which took place in<\/p>\n 2003. In this survey, students’ abilities were assessed in the three curricular domains:<\/p>\n mathematics, reading, and science plus the cross-curricular domain of problem-solving.<\/p>\n Students were also asked to provide individual information on their social and economic<\/p>\n background. We choose to analyze the PISA second cycle since its main focus was on the<\/p>\n domain of mathematics. In particular, 54% of the total student testing time was devoted<\/p>\n to the assessment of mathematical skills (1).<\/p>\n The PISA target population is made up of all students in any educational institution<\/p>\n between the ages of 15 years and 3 months and 16 years and 2 months at the time of the<\/p>\n assessment. This specific age has been chosen because it is close to the end of<\/p>\n compulsory education in most countries (1). Efforts have been made to insure the absence<\/p>\n of cultural or national biases in the test items [see for example (2)] and in the evaluation<\/p>\n of performance (3).<\/p>\n The student data set contains 276,165 observations, which roughly represent a population<\/p>\n of 19,155,864 15-year-old students attending seventh grade or above in 41 countries, 30<\/p>\n of which belong to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development<\/p>\n (OECD). From this data set, we dropped Liechtenstein because the data contain only 165<\/p>\n observations, which make problematic any calculation of the tail of the distribution (all<\/p>\n the other countries have at least 639 observations); moreover, Liechtenstein has no<\/p>\n measure of gender equality. PISA din 2006, in schimb: oricum din articolul din science, astea sint clasamentele cu nr. de fete\/nr. de baieti cu scoruri in primii 1% (in ordine crescatoare), la:<\/p>\n — CITIRE:<\/p>\n Macao — MATEMATICA:<\/p>\n Macao la “emanciparea femeilor” e mult mai complicat cu clasamentele, dar sursele sint astea: Measures of women’s emancipation<\/p>\n In our discussion, we use variables on the position of women in society from four<\/p>\n sources. The first is the “gender gap index,” which we will refer to as women’s<\/p>\n emancipation (GGI), prepared by the World Economic Forum (we take the year 2006<\/p>\n series) (7). This indicator synthesizes the position of women in any given country by<\/p>\n taking into accounts economic opportunities, economic participation, educational<\/p>\n attainment, political achievements, and health and well-being. Larger values point to a<\/p>\n better position of women in society.<\/p>\n The second series of data comes from our elaborations on the World Values Survey<\/p>\n (WVS), all waves (8). The WVS asks, among other things, a series of questions on the<\/p>\n role of women in society. The questions used are “When jobs are scarce, men should<\/p>\n have more right to a job than women” (V61), “A working mother can establish just as<\/p>\n warm and secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work” (V98),<\/p>\n “Being a housewife is just as fulfilling as working for pay” (V99), “Both the husband and<\/p>\n wife should contribute to household income” (V100), “On the whole, men make better<\/p>\n political leaders than women do” (V101), “If a woman earns more money than her<\/p>\n husband, it’s almost certain to cause problems” (V102) and “A university education is<\/p>\n more important for a boy than for a girl” (V103). For all but the first, levels of<\/p>\n agreements had to be expressed on a scale from 1 to 4. In the first question the answers<\/p>\n were “agree,” “neither,” and “disagree,” to which we attributed the respective scores of<\/p>\n 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5. (“Don’t know” and missing answers are excluded.) We then inverted the<\/p>\n answers to questions V98 and V100, so that higher values indicate a better position of<\/p>\n women in society. The final index is the average by country of the answers to all these<\/p>\n questions.<\/p>\n The “Female Economic Activity Rate (% ages 15 and older)” is the share of the female<\/p>\n population of age 15 and older who supply, or are available to supply, labor for the<\/p>\n production of goods and services (10).<\/p>\n The “Political Empowerment Index” is computed by the World Economic Forum and it is<\/p>\n based on three components: (1) the ratio of females with seats in parliament over male<\/p>\n value (International Parliamentary Union); (2) the ratio of females at ministerial level<\/p>\n over male value (U.N. Human Development Report); (3) the ratio of number of years of a<\/p>\n female head of state (last 50 years) over male value (World Economic Forum<\/p>\n calculations) (7). 7. R. Hausmann, L. D. Tyson, S. Zahidi, The Global Gender Gap Report (World<\/p>\n Economic Forum, Geneva, 2006).<\/p>\n 8. R. Inglehart et al., World Values Surveys and European Values Surveys, 1981\u20131984,<\/p>\n 1990\u20131993, and 1995\u20131997 [Computer file, Interuniversity Consortium for<\/p>\n Political and Social Research (ICPSR) version] (Institute for Social Research,<\/p>\n Ann Arbor, MI, 2000), distributed by ICPSR.<\/p>\n 10. ILO (International Labor Organization), Estimates and Projections of the<\/p>\n Economically Active Population, 1980\u20132020 [Database, ed. 5, rev. 2] (ILO,<\/p>\n Geneva, 2005).<\/p>\n — de ex., pt. cele 4 variabile, tarile cu cel mai bun si cel mai prost scor, respectiv, sint:<\/p>\n * women’s emancipation (gender gap index): Iceland (0.78), Turkey (0.59)<\/p>\n * avg. wvs indicator: Sweden (3.17), Austria (2.41)<\/p>\n * female activity rate: Iceland (70.9), Turkey (27.8)<\/p>\n * women political empowerment: Sweden (0.55), Russian Fed. (0.03) <\/p>\n doar citeva parti care mi s-au parut interesante din cele publicate…<\/p>\n ps: an older post from me that includes some useful resources: “ms geek and other good stuff”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" about recent research: in The Economist “Vital statistics: Girls are becoming as good as boys at mathematics, and are still better at reading” [h\/t \/etc list] ABC News story “Study: Girls in Sexist Societies Worse at Math – Countries with … Continue reading
\n“Study: Girls in Sexist Societies Worse at Math – Countries with Higher Gender Equality Produce Girls Who Are Better at Math”<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/a> <\/p>\n
<\/a>
\nScience 30 May 2008:
\nVol. 320. no. 5880, pp. 1164 – 1165
\nDOI: 10.1126\/science.1154094<\/em><\/p>\n
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\n……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
\ne interesant si chiar riguros studiul, iar articolul de pe abc news il prezinta destul bine (socant!). <\/p>\n
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\nPISA din 2003 se gaseste aici:
\nhttp:\/\/www.pisa.oecd.org\/document\/5\/0,3343,en_32252351_32236173_33917573_1_1_1_1,00.html<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.pisa.oecd.org\/pages\/0,3417,en_32252351_32236191_1_1_1_1_1,00.html<\/a>
\ninclude si romania – si diferenta intre scoruri la fete si baieti la citire e -44 (in zona uruguay, austria, cehia, norvegia, estonia, montenegro) iar la matematica +7 (cel mai aproape de rusia, serbia si slovenia). la stiinta e -2 (la fel ca montenegro, croatia, korea).<\/p>\n
\nTurkey
\nJapan
\nTunisia
\nRep. of Korea
\nRussian Fed.
\nUSA
\nNew Zealand
\nBrazil
\nMexico
\nAustralia
\nCanada
\nNetherlands
\nNorway
\nIreland
\nHong Kong
\nPoland
\nBelgium
\nUruguay
\nDenmark
\nGermany
\nGreece
\nSpain
\nHungary
\nPortugal
\nCzech Rep.
\nLuxembourg
\nSerbia and Montenegro
\nSwitzerland
\nLatvia
\nItaly
\nIndonesia
\nAustria
\nSlovak Rep.
\nUnited Kingdom
\nThailand
\nSweden
\nFinland
\nFrance
\nIceland<\/p>\n
\nItaly
\nTurkey
\nGreece
\nUSA
\nRep. of Korea
\nBelgium
\nSerbia and Montenegro
\nSlovak Rep.
\nHong Kong
\nPortugal
\nUruguay
\nBrazil
\nJapan
\nGermany
\nFinland
\nSwitzerland
\nNew Zealand
\nNorway
\nHungary
\nRussian Fed.
\nLuxemburg
\nTunisia
\nAustralia
\nPoland
\nLatvia
\nFrance
\nNetherlands
\nMexico
\nIreland
\nAustria
\nSpain
\nCzech Rep.
\nCanada
\nDenmark
\nSweden
\nIndonesia
\nUnited Kingdom
\nIceland
\nThailand<\/p>\n
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\n———————————–<\/p>\n