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Boys surpass girls in maths in the first year of school

A gender gap in mathematical ability arises shortly after children begin school — irrespective of the type of school they attend and their socio-economic background.
By
  1. John A. List

    1. John A. List is in the Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.

  2. Andrew Simon

    1. Andrew Simon is in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, USA.

The under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) harms society, because it hinders the production of scientific knowledge and creates economic inequality. Gender gaps in higher education and the workforce are in stark contrast to the lack of differences between boys and girls in mathematical ability during early childhood1. Understanding the origin of these gaps is a crucial step in reducing them, because it informs education-policy practitioners about when to intervene. Writing in Nature, Martinot et al.2 use data on some 2.6 million children aged 5–7 years in their first and second years of school in France to systematically document the emergence of the gender gap in maths. They reveal that it arises during, not before, the first year of school.

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Nature 643, 920-921 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01717-5

References

  1. Fryer, R. G. Jr & Levitt, S. D. Am. Econ. J. Appl. Econ. 2, 210–240 (2010).

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  2. Martinot, P. et al. Nature 643, 1020–1029 (2025).

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  3. Karna, U., Lee, M. S., List, J. A., Simon, A. & Uchida, H. Nature 639, 976–984 (2025).

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  4. Fischer, J.-P. & Thierry, X. Br. J. Dev. Psychol. 40, 504–519 (2022).

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  5. List, J. A. Experimental Economics: Theory and Practice (Univ. Chicago Press, in the press).

  6. Dhuey, E., Figlio, D., Karbownik, K. & Roth, J. J. Policy Anal. Mgmt 38, 538–578 (2019).

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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