Rapid emergence of a maths gender gap in first grade

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Martinot, P.; Colnet, B.; Breda, T.; Sultan, J.; Touitou, L.; Huguet, P.; Spelke, E.; Dehaene-Lambertz, G.; Bressoux, P.; Dehaene, S.
• 署名单位: Universite Paris Cite; Universite Paris Saclay; CEA; Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm); Universite PSL; Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS); Paris School of Economics; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universite Clermont Auvergne (UCA); Universite Clermont Auvergne (UCA); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Harvard University; Communaute Universite Grenoble Alpes; Universite Grenoble Alpes (UGA); Universite PSL; College de France
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-2150
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09126-4
• 发表日期: 2025-07-24
• 关键词: sex-differences; mathematics achievement; teachers beliefs; stereotypes; science; ability

摘要

Preventing gender disparities in mathematics is a worldwide preoccupation1,2. In infancy and early childhood, boys and girls exhibit similar core knowledge of number and space3, 4, 5, 6, 7-8. Gender disparities in maths are, therefore, thought to primarily reflect an internalization of the sociocultural stereotype that 'girls are bad at maths'. However, where, when and how widely this stereotype becomes entrenched remains uncertain. Here, we report the results of a 4-year longitudinal assessment of language and mathematical performance of all French first and second graders (2,653,082 children). Boys and girls exhibited very similar maths scores upon school entry, but a gender gap in favour of boys became highly significant after 4 months of schooling and reached an effect size of about 0.20 after 1 year. These findings were repeated each year and varied only slightly across family, class or school type and socio-economic level. Although schooling correlated with age, exploiting the near-orthogonal variations indicated that the gender gap increased with schooling rather than with age. These findings point to the first year of school as the time and place where a maths gender gap emerges in favour of boys, thus helping focus the search for solutions and interventions.