Gender equity in mathematics: Beliefs of students, parents, and teachers

School Science and Mathematics, Oct 2003 by Leedy, M Gail, LaLonde, Donna, Runk, Kristen

The attitudes about mathematics held by girls and boys participating in a regional mathematics contest, their parents, teachers, and mathematics coaches were investigated. Quantitative data regarding mathematics as a male domain, perception of importance of mathematics, confidence in learning mathematics, effectance motivation, and usefulness of mathematics were obtained. It was found that the traditional gender-based differences in the beliefs regarding mathematics persist even in these mathematically talented students. Furthermore, parents' responses to the questions regarding the role of mathematics revealed that mothers, more than fathers, focused on the computational aspects of mathematics, while fathers more than mothers mentioned the role of mathematics in science or as a language. Boys, fathers, and certain mathematics teachers admitted to a low level of gender stereotyping, as evidenced by their scores on the Mathematics as a Male Domain subscale. However, the girls, mothers, and mathematics coaches did not endorse this stereotyping. Unsolicited responses of girls and mothers, in fact, emphatically denied that gender stereotyping exists. These findings are discussed in terms of the need to resolve the essential conflicts between students', parents', and teachers' deeply held beliefs regarding the nature of mathematics, gender differences in mathematical abilities, and the desire for equity within mathematics education.

The role played by gender in mathematics education is multifaceted. Many reports of differences in mathematics performance related to gender have been presented over the past decades (Fennema, Carpenter, Jacobs, Franke, & Levi, 1998; Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974; Shibley-Hyde, Fennema, & Lamon, 1990). Performance differences have been postulated to be due, at least in part, to attitudinal differences regarding mathematics. Fennema and Sherman (1977), using the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales, found several gender differences in high school students' attitudes. For the students in those high schools in which the males performed significantly better on mathematics achievement tests, Fennema and Sherman found that males also had higher scores on attitude scales, including Confidence in Learning Mathematics, viewing Mathematics as a Male Domain, Attitude Toward Success in Math, Mother's Support, Father's Support, and Usefulness of Mathematics. Since that initial report, similar gender differences in attitudes toward mathematics have been reported for different ages and using different measurement scales (Duffy, Gunther, & Walters, 1997; Forgasz & Leder, 1996; Kloosterman, 1988; Meyer & Koehler, 1990; Stipek & Gralinski, 1991; Tocci & Engelhard, 1991). These attitudinal differences have also been reported for children who have been identified as academically gifted (Junge & Dretzke, 1995; Siegle & Reis, 1998; Terwilliger & Titus, 1995).

Von Glaserfeld (1989), a leading constructivist philosopher, has suggested that the context in which humans find themselves is important in the acquisition of knowledge. The context for teaching and learning is, in large part, established by the interactions of students, teachers, and parents. Early studies focused on the role of parental attitudes in the development of attitudes their children hold toward mathematics. Parents of young boys expect their sons to develop mathematical skills earlier than the parents of young girls do (Blevins-Knabe & Musun-Miller, 1991). Parents of older children believe that their daughters must work harder to achieve good grades in mathematics courses, and parents of boys place a higher emphasis on the importance of mathematics. It is significant that these parental attitudes were predictive of the students' achievement in mathematics courses (Parsons, Adler, & Kaczala, 1982) and their belief in their mathematical abilities (Tiedemann, 2000). Gender-differentiated attitudes extend to parents of gifted children. Raymond and Benbow (1986) reported that mothers were more involved if their child was verbally talented, and fathers were more involved if the child was mathematically talented, reinforcing the idea that mathematics is a male domain.

Teachers' attitudes toward students' performance in mathematics classes parallel those of the parents. Again, girls are seen as successful due to their hard work (Jussim & Eccles,1992; Siegle & Reis, 1998; Tiedemann, 2000), while boys' success is attributed to their talent (Jussim & Eccles, 1992). As expected based on these differences in attitudes, there are also reports that teachers behave differently toward boys and girls in the classroom. Reports of preferential treatment of boys in the high school mathematics classroom have also been provided (American Association of University Women [AAUW], 1992; Becker, 1981).

Our research was designed to explore the attitudes toward and beliefs about the role of mathematics held by students. Specifically, we wished to investigate the beliefs of children who show an aptitude for and an interest in mathematics. Due to the proposed importance of the environmental context established by the interactions of students with teachers and parents, we also determined a need to investigate the attitudes of these students' parents, their mathematics coaches, and their mathematics teachers.