Summary: Rapid emergence of a maths gender gap in first grade
# Rapid emergence of a maths gender gap in first grade
## TL;DR
The gender gap in maths, favoring boys, emerges significantly within the first four months of first grade and continues to increase with schooling, regardless of age or socio-economic factors.
## Summary
**The Math Gender Gap: It Starts Earlier Than We Think**
In a recent study, a team of researchers led by Martinot, P., Colnet, B., and Breda, T., has found that the gender gap in mathematics achievement begins to emerge in the first year of school, contradicting the belief that boys and girls have equal core knowledge of numbers and spaces in early childhood.
The study, which followed the academic performance of all French first and second graders over a four-year period, found that boys and girls started school with similar mathematics scores. However, just four months into the first grade, a gender gap began to appear, with boys outperforming girls. The gap continued to widen over the course of the year, regardless of the child’s family, class, school type, or socioeconomic level.
This research is significant because it challenges the prevailing idea that the math gender gap is primarily a result of sociocultural stereotypes, such as the belief that “girls are bad at math”. Instead, the early emergence of this gap suggests that it may be influenced by factors present in the early school environment.
These findings provide valuable insight into when and where interventions to reduce the math gender gap should be targeted. By understanding that the gap appears early in a child’s school career, educators and policymakers can focus their efforts on this critical period to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed in mathematics. The next step for the researchers is to investigate what specific factors in the school environment contribute to the development of this gap.
## Original Paper
[Rapid emergence of a maths gender gap in first grade](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09126-4)
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*This summary was automatically generated on 2025-06-11 22:57:11.*
