CREATING GENDER EQUALITY - CROSS-NATIONAL GENDER STRATIFICATION AND MATHEMATICAL PERFORMANCE

This study uses data on sex differences in the eighth-grade mathematical performance of over 77,000 students in 19 countries, 1964 and 1982 data on such differences in 9 countries, and data on gender stratification of advanced educational and occupational opportunities to explore when and where gender will affect students' performance in mathematics. The analyses show that there is cross-national variation in the performance of mathematics and that it is related to variation in the gender stratification of educational and occupational opportunities in adulthood, that sex differences have declined over time, and that school and family factors leading to higher mathematical performance are less stratified by gender when women have more equal access to jobs and higher education.