According to a study done by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad and the University of Manchester, girls between the ages of eight and 16 in rural India regularly perform worse in mathematics than boys their own age. These disparities are especially evident in areas where there is other evidence of gender bias against women.
As per the findings of an ongoing study published as Solving It Correctly: Prevalence and Persistence of Gender Difference in Basic Mathematics in Rural India, girls regularly score lower than boys in basic mathematics, and the gap worsens as they become older. Indeed, it demonstrates a rising tendency across states, time, and age.
Social and cultural conventions, instructor bias, and family views all have a negative impact on girls' mathematics learning outcomes. According to the report, this disadvantage exists in both private and public schools, and has had a negative impact on women's employment chances. The evidence of 'regressive gender norms' and 'gender prejudice' in north India, according to the paper, explains why girls score lower in mathematics.
'We find robust and strong evidence of a gender gap in basic mathematical abilities that appear to be prevalent across adolescent females across economic strata, social groups, and various other demographic compositions. Worryingly, the gap persists across age groups and has been increasing temporally on average,' says the paper, which is available online.
Karan Singhal of IIM Ahmedabad and Upasak Das of the University of Manchester analysed data from the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) of over 23 lakh children from 2010 to 2018 to look into the gender disparity in learning outcomes. They also looked at data from the 2014-15 National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
The researchers discovered a clear link between gender inequalities in arithmetic learning performance and community gender bias. 'We found a direct relation between the communities’ attitudes towards women along with the households where girls have scored less in mathematics. For this, we use the IHDS data collected in 2004-2005 to compare it with data collected in 2011-12 and utilise two possible indicators of gender stereotyping emanating from patriarchal cultural norms and traditions. Practices like purdah or ghunghat (the practice of veiling) are examples of such norms or prejudice. State-wise analysis of this data showed that girls in households which followed these practices scored less in mathematics and this gap widened with time,' Singhal explained.
This finding was corroborated by data from the NHFS district-level household survey, which was conducted in 2015-16. 'We estimate gender norms and attitudes at district level and merge that with the ASER data for 2016 to assess if female children from districts with higher prevalence of regressive gendered norms and attitudes score worse in mathematics relative to the males,' the paper explained. Girls in households where women have less bargaining power are less likely to excel in mathematics, according to the study.
The studies also revealed a significant imbalance between northern and southern states, with the northern states having a bigger gap in mathematics learning among girls. According to the survey, nearly half of the states, particularly in Northern India, have a 'chronic and severe' disadvantage for women. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan are among these states. Southern states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, on the other hand, show a 'reverse gender gap,' with boys of the same age group being at a disadvantage.
'While this requires further research, the lack of female disadvantage compared to Northern states is not particularly surprising given the differences in contexts, and education-related investments,' the study stated. 'We were surprised to find that Punjab, despite having similar gender regressive norms and a skewed sex ratio showed a reverse gender gap. Similarly, Haryana, a state which is widely known for its regressive norms, did not show a high disadvantage against girls. We believe that there are other factors that are in play leading to this phenomenon and we intend to explore these factors further,' said Singhal.
Despite the data, the study found that measures geared at eliminating gender inequalities are lacking. According to the study, the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) 'acknowledges the possibility of differences in learning experience between males and females,' but the government has taken no concrete steps to close the gap.
'There seems to be a lack of systematic recognition or effective policies to indicate that these concerns have been addressed. Even the recently-passed New Education Policy (NEP) does not acknowledge these gender-based differences, despite its push towards children developing foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) in early years,' the study highlighted, adding, 'There is a need to understand these differences and think more carefully about the kind of support required to alleviate this.'