Blogpost 3: Who Are Better with Numbers: Men or Women?

There are those who are good in speaking, as well as in writing. There are also people who have the skills in analytic and logic, particularly in dealing with numbers. Consequently, not all people are mutually good in a certain thing. Every people are unique from one another. Each individual has got its excellence in various fields and aspects of life.

In my previous posts called “Monster Numbers” and “Mysteries Behind 13”, I talked about the fear of numbers or Arithmophobia and one specific feared number which is 13 (also under arithmophobia condition). Many people suffer from this fear; some know that they do, but some don’t. There is no exception from any kind of phobia as well as Arithmophobia does. No matter what sexual orientation you are of, you are not exempted of suffering from this fear. I have also mentioned in my previous post “who are more prone to artihmophobia: boys or girls?” Now, I am curious, about who is better at math: a man or a woman?

Pythagoras of Samos, Isaac Newton, and Rene Descartes - do you know who these people are? What contributions in the modern world do they have? These people are some of the greatest personalities who imparted big contribution in the field of mathematics in today’s world. It is noticeable that most of the great mathematicians are male. I am wondering why, I have been schooling for about ten years already, but ever since I entered school, I haven’t heard of any great female mathematician and her contribution in the field of math, yet. Though, there were female mathematicians, still they were not that highly orthodox and were not being talked about. When I was in deep thinking about it, a realization has got into me. I remembered one big societal issue, which may answer the queries I have, that is—Gender Inequality. 

Gender inequality is all about the imparity of the prospect due to the significant difference and uneven treatment in ones sexuality. Most of the time, women are the subject of this gender inequality, but anyone, whatever sexual orientation he/she is of, can experience this inequity as well.

 There is an article written by Jennifer Welsh of LiveScience, entitled “Are boys or girls better at math?” which I found in mnn.com. Stated there is that men are naturally the ones who are into mathematics and logic. That is why; there are differences on how men and women perform diverse math activities, which is known to be the gender gap in math. It has been told before by many researchers that this gap is a natural situation, men are better at math than women do.  However, there were also researchers who contradicted in that argument, saying that it’s the cultural issue is the reason. But what causes this gender gap? 

"This is not a matter of biology: None of our findings suggest that an innate biological difference between the sexes is the primary reason for a gender gap in math performance", study researcher Janet Mertz, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in a statement.

Culture is the perpetrator—this is what the new research points out. Socio-cultural issues are held responsible for the occurrence of this gender gap. Included in the article of Welsh, stated that some countries posses less gender gap. This means that in countries wherein females are into math, gender equality is definitely high. 

According to a study about gender gap I have read, which I found in the article “Study: Gender gap in math does not compute”, by Stephanie Siek, CNN, the perception that boys are biologically and naturally better at math than girls are, is fallacy. It is stated in the article that boys and girls actually showcased the same ability in math. However, males have a naturally greater range of intellectual ability that is why men tend to be the most high-achieving in math.

According to Jonathan Kane, study researcher of University of Wisconsin-Madison , stated, “Our stereotypes are hurting our math education. If you take half the population and lecture to them about how girls aren't good in math and how no one will expect you to do well in math because you're a girl, you're building-in the cultural factor that makes girls not perform as well.”

The study conducted by Janet Mertz and Jonathan Kane proposed that the gender gap in math is an outcome due to social and cultural factors that varies in different countries, but is changeable. Many reasons may have caused the difference between boys and girls when mathematics is being talked about. But there is no biological reason why boys are more logical than girls. These skills in logic and numbers cannot be explained by hormones and neurological structure of an individual. Instead, boys, being better at math than girls do, are results of societal-cultural issues and not by gender. 

Looking back to the past, even here in the Philippines, women are not granted with the opportunity to pursue education, whose main role in the society before is “simply” to be a housewife. So, now, a woman, who urges to pursue mathematical oriented career, will be ridiculed and turned down by men resulting into vulnerability in mathematical and logical ability, which afterwards results to low self-confidence.  

“(Based on our research) we found that boys — as well as girls — tend to do better in math when raised in countries where females have better equality” Kane said. 

I view it as being good in math doesn’t depend in our biological structure, really. They say boys tend to have an innate logical skill because of some hormonal and neurological conditions. And yes, it may be true to some cases but not all the time. I, personally, have no good in math at all. But one thing’s for sure, there are girls who are really good dealing with numbers as well.  I greatly agree that what affect the most are the social-cultural factors. And based on the facts presented by researches, countries with greater gender equality have greater female math-oriented careers. It means, the equality in our society is very much essential. We should respect everyone regardless of what sexual orientation each is of. We already know that our society is not fair and full of violence, so we must find a way to change it. Gender discrimination has a huge impact in the psychological state of a person. As a result, other aspect of his/her life is greatly affected, including the opportunity to be good at something. If we can change the things we were accustomed to, a big chance of setting down of gender gap may happen. Thus, equality in being good at mathematics, specifically, and to other aspects of life as well, will soon emerge!