Overall, the study by Sapienza and her colleagues found that worldwide boys performed better in mathematics than girls.

However, in countries where gender-equality was present, such countries as Iceland, Sweden, and Norway, girls scored equal to or better than boys.

Thus, they found that the gender gap for mathematics was absent in more gender equal societies. For example, in Sweden, which had gender gap index (GGI) of 0.81 (which showed near equality of gender in society [equality has a score of 1.00]), girls scored almost the same as boys in mathematics.

However, in Turkey, which had a GGI of 0.59 (which shows lack of equality of girls over boys in its society), girls scored 23 points below boys in mathematics testing.

In the United States, where girls rank twenty-third in the world on the GGI scale (GGI = 0.7), girls scored 10 points lower than boys in math.

The researchers stated that such a score—ten points lower score by girls over boys—was about average for all of the countries tested.

Sapienza stated, “The so-called gender gap in math skills seems to be at least partially correlated to environmental factors. The gap doesn’t exist in countries in which men and women have access to similar resources and opportunities.” [Physorg.com: “Bridging the math gender gap”]

In addition, Sapienza said, “Our research indicates that in more gender equal societies, girls will gain an absolute advantage relative to boys.” [Physorg.com]

The researchers also found that girls had better reading scores than boys in all of the forty countries tested. However, they found that the girls did even better in countries with higher rates of gender-equality.

The researchers for the study include: Luigi Guiso (European University Institute, Florence, Italy), Ferdinando Monte (University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.), Paola Sapienza (Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois), and Luigi Zingales (University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois).

They have the results of their study published in the May 30, 2008 issue of Science magazine. (volume 320, number 5880, pages 1164-1165).

The title of their Science paper is “Culture, Gender, and Math.”