Subtracting the Math Gender Gap

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gender gap in mathematics

By: christian | Wed, 07/15/2009 - 18:51

With respect to mathematical geniuses it is nonsense to believe that the top 1% high school students can be assimilated to geniuses as feministic scientists seem to imply. What is true is that participants and above all medallists at the international mathematical olympiads are truly geniuses because they represent say the very best ones out of millions of competing teenagers. In fact only the 6 best high school mathematicians in each country are selected for the international mathematical olympiads. There is a study by Gallian, Kane and Mertz (all feministic scientists) about country and gender participation and results at the international mathematical olympiads. This study does not at all put at variance Larry Summers´view that the mathematics gender gap at top levels may well be biological. In effect according to the referred study even in the countries which most favor female participation at the mathematical olympiads (like Russia or Bulgaria) there are only 12% to 24% females, which means that males still make up 76% to 84% of exceptionally talented young mathematicians. In other countries the male supremacy is even greater and close to 90% or 100%.
The reason why there is such an overwhelming male representation in fields like top level mathematics, theoretical physics or astrophysics is actually simple. It can be explained by the the fact that you basically need a IQ of at least 3 or 4 standard deviations above the mean of 100 (in other words a IQ of at least 150 or 160) to master the most advanced topics in these disciplines. Now there are numerous studies showing that the standard deviation of males IQ is significantly larger than the standard deviation of females IQ but that is a fact that few people want to mention because it is not politically correct. If you add the fact that the IQ distribution is approximately normal (or gaussian) then you have a very simple explanation of the huge male over-representation in those areas.
Note that exactly the same factors explain why there is a huge male over-representation at top levels in games of pure abstract intelligence like chess or checkers. For example there is only 1 female in the best 100 chess players worldwide (1%) according to FIDE rankings of April, 2009 which are available free online (so everyone can verify this). And in the first 1000 rated chess players worldwide there are only 21 females (2.1%) whereas females represent 7.6% of the whole FIDE rated population of about 100,000 players. This relative dearth of females at top levels stronly suggests that the gender variability hypothesis holds. Note that all the big chess tournaments (like world championships for example) are open to both genders but, since females cannot compete against males at top chess levels,female-only chess tournaments had to be set up in addition to all the other ones open to both genders.
Now, why is the male IQ (and other quantifiable cognitive aptitudes) standard deviation higher than that of females remains to be investigated. But it cannot be ruled out that it is related to gender biology, maybe even linked to chromosome arrangements.
After all the fact that biology is at play is clear for other mammals. Studies have shown that male rats show better spatial skills than female rats for example in finding out their way out of a maze. Maybe that eventually we will see some feministic scientists like those referred to in the article who will suggest that this male rat superiority is due to social factors in the rats society or maybe to the chauvinistic male rats behavior (maybe these "macho" male rats meet together and plot to leave female rats behind). But who will then believe them?

yet another dodgy study being used for politics...

By: freeter | Tue, 06/09/2009 - 00:18

seems the author was previous debunked, and is back for another swipe with dodgy data. http://www.geoffreyfalk.com/blog/June2009.asp#5 [geoffreyfalk.com] http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/math.htm [f2s.com] http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/math2.htm [f2s.com] the top 1% of students in general esp at a high school level are not what matters when it comes to mathematical genius anyways. its ridiculous to draw conclusions from that. and if asian/colored women outperform their men then they should continue to do so when it gets to the phd level/awards right? probably not addressed. i think what matters with these studies is they are published and get a headline, thats all that really matters, very few of the gender warriors that like your conclusions are going to check your work.

further more it misses the real issue.
http://www.uaf.edu/northern/schools/myth.html [uaf.edu] it is amusing the language/reading gap that favors women is just accepted, when under the same viewpoint it should mean that boys are horribly discriminated against when it comes to that aspect of education!! look at the gpas, women outperform men in many areas other than mathematics. are we to conclude that men are being highly discriminated against as well? that is the logical conclusion from such thinking. "Grades: That females receive higher grades in virtually every subject is undisputed. In reviewing the literature on gender differences in cognitive tests, for the flagship journal of the field, American Psychologist, Halpern (1997, p. 1102) points out that "higher grades in school, all or most subjects" is an area of unquestioned female advantage. Another recent, comprehensive review of the research literature on gender differences in school performance comes to the same conclusion: Data from a wide variety of sources and educational settings show that females in all ethnic groups tend to earn higher grades in school than do males, across different ages and eras, and across different subject matter disciplines. Many researchers in past times and today consider this to be such an obvious fact that they treat it as axiomatic....Modern reviews of the subject are unanimous in their finding of higher grades for females (Dwyer & Johnson, 1997, pp. 128-129)." "Class Rank and Honors: Since girls receive higher grades in school, they should also surpass boys in class rank. This is exactly what happens. Examining gender differences in high school class rank and honors in a nationally representative sample from the 1970s, Adelman (1991, p. 3) makes this point, "No matter how one slices the high school class of 1972, women's mean class rank exceeded that of men by a minimum of 10 points." Caucasian women attained, on the average, the highest class rank (67th percentile), while African-American men attained, on the average the lowest class rank (44th percentile). African-American women ranked far higher (56th percentile) than African-American men. The same pattern of female advantage in grades and honors shows up in the 1990s, in a nationally representative longitudinal study of the high school class of 1992 (NELS Second Follow-up, cited in Dwyer & Johnson, 1997, p. 139). In the academic arena, high school girls outdistanced boys in making the honor roll, in getting elected to a class office, and in receiving writing awards and other academic honors. In the academic arena, boys outdistanced women in vocational-technical honors and in awards in science and mathematics competitions. While males are still ahead in gaining mathematics and science honors, females are making strong gains. From 1995-1998, close to 40 percent of the winners of the most prestigious science competition, the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, were female (Science Service, 1998). The Westinghouse Science Talent Search requires high school students to complete a project in science, mathematics, and engineering and submit a report communicating the results. The work goes on over many months, often with the assistance of a parent, teacher, or other researcher. The contest is notable for producing winners who later go on to win a Nobel Prize. Westinghouse finalists from the 1940s through the 1970s were overwhelmingly male. The number of females among the top 40 finalists has increased since the 1980s and is approaching parity (Table 2)." all this hand wringing over women is clearly missing the real problem eh?

more proof the bias in education is against men. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8085011.stm [bbc.co.uk] Female students are ahead of men in almost every measure of UK university achievement, according to a report from higher education researchers.

I confounded two sections

By: Miriam Goldstein | Thu, 06/04/2009 - 13:05

Yep, patk and hye, you're right - I cofounded two sections of the original article (here if you have PNAS access.) The part on whether males have greater variance than females was tested across different countries on 15-year-olds who were not necessarily mathematically talented - they compared the shape of the distributions. The part about extremely mathematically talented females was just a presence-absence study on whether talented women exist, which doesn't say much about frequency compared to men. So while there's no difference between the vast majority of males and females, this study does not actually compare the highly talented in a statiscally rigorous way. (Though, as hye says, the fluctuations in percentages of females in the International Math Olympics across genetically related countries and years imply social factors rather than biological.)

Let that me a lesson to me about trying to write too fast. My apologies.

As usual, scientists misinterpreted

By: hye | Thu, 06/04/2009 - 17:40

I was a little confused when I first read the article, because I "know" that women are underrepresented at the IMO (International Mathematics Olympiad). This page, http://www.imo-official.org/organizers.aspx, has the breakdown of contestants by gender.

In the original paper Hyde & Mertz sought only to demonstrate that super-genius level talent existed in females. (top 0.0001%) The fact that there are female contestants who do well at the IMO neither confirms nor refutes any arguments about gender differences at that level of mathematical ability. Whether or not the scarcity of female contestants is due to gender differences or social effects can't be distinguished in the data so far, although the increase in number (of female contestants) in recent years suggests the latter.

I won't rant too much here, but I wanted to point out that the quote in NewsDaily quote is taken out of context. (and also erroneous with regards to misstating the IMO).

EDIT:
Well, the context in NewsDaily implies that there is equal representation of gender at the IMO in that article. I'm wondering though, what your opinion is on Danica McKellar's books: "Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math WIthout Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail" and "Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss". I have mixed feelings about whether she should be applauded for increasing interest in math among girls or admonished for reinforcing gender stereotypes.

consider the stats more carefully

By: patk | Wed, 06/03/2009 - 19:43

This is an interesting article, particularly the primary work which I admittedly did not read. I am a professor of chemical physics at a large university. So I am a scientist and an educator. As a scientist I am guided purely by the data and as an educator I am motivated to help students - regardless of gender, race, etc. A somewhat relevant aside is that I know of literally *no* colleagues anywhere who are not equally committed to educating everyone - even to the point of extra outreach to those who are under represented in science. Perhaps the caveat is that my contemporaries are under 40ish.

Having said all that, the prior post was on the mark about the 1% issue. I hope the author might consider this analysis below. Not because I care about posting on a blog. But because this is an important topic which merits intelligent inquiry. So here is the simple statistics argument:

Suppose the top 10% of high school kids go to college. Of these, the best 10% in science actually major in it. Of these the best 10% go to get their PHD (and finish). Of these the best 10% get a good postdoc. Of these the best 10% get positions at research universities. Sure this is a simple estimate (probably conservative). But this estimate suggests that about 1 out of about 100,000 end up as academic scientists or mathematicians.

These stats are not at all unlike professional sports. How many of those "really great kids" end up getting paid to play ball in the pros? Everyone knows the number is vanishingly small. Being a scientist is no different. Again, this is merely a statistical analysis (albeit simple) and not a value based qualitative argument. Happily for those leave the path, their choice most certainly is not a failure. All the other 99.9999% most certainly can go on to do many interesting, productive, and meaningful things. So at least the journey can take you places unlike the parallel situation of trying to make it in pro sports.

So to summarize, even the most simple of quantitative analysis suggests that the top 1% of kids is not really a meaningful representation of those who practice the art as a profession. Furthermore, even if you whittled it down to some smaller fraction of kids, it still may be meaningless as a number. Consider the arguments put forth by Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers. The upshot is that there is a loooong path between talent as a child and success as an adult. But that is a secondary issue.

Please note that I do not critique your intent, just the methods of analysis.

I'd also add that the math

By: bjan_1 | Wed, 06/03/2009 - 19:08

I'd also add that the math kids are doing at 15 -- unless they are wunderkinder -- is very different to the math involved in post-calculus work. Nonetheless the lack of women in hard science (and physics in particular) is embarrassing and far beyond what could be claimed for any "biological difference."

Interesting... but Genius, Really?

By: rcwilliams83 | Wed, 06/03/2009 - 16:42

For what it's worth, this is an interesting study. But being in the top 1% of math students is not the same thing as being a "math-genius."