Gender differences in expectancy of academic success in mathematics

Abstract

Our nation has made great strides toward achieving gender equality in education over the past twenty years. “Until 1980, Ivy League schools such as Columbia University did not even admit women whereas today, the majority of college students are women” (Sadker, 1999, p. 22). Now, more than even before, the door is wide open for women to seek and obtain careers that their mothers would have never thought possible. It is clear that major academic hurdles have been successfully cleared by and for women. It is also clear, though, that the race is not over and that women still fall short in several areas. One specific area of education we need to examine more closely if we truly want to establish complete academic gender equality is mathematics. The purpose of this study was to examine the expected differences in college students’ expectations of success in math. Specifically, the research hypothesis was that there would be a statistically significant difference between expectations of success in math of males and females, with males expecting to be successful more often than females. Data was collected from 222 students, Freshman-Senior, using a Math Expectancy Questionnaire in Introduction to College Math courses at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in the spring of 2003. The results indicated that although there was no statistical significance in support of the hypothesis, in many cases females did not share the same expectations for mathematical success as did their male counterparts.