Differences in gender equality based on social, political and economic factors is cited, by some writers, as a contributory factor in the differentially greater achievement of boys in STEM subjects through the concept of gender stratification. Gender differences, especially in mathematics, have been linked directly to gender parity in wider…

In this paper, we attempt to explain the differences between reading and math scores of migrants' children (8430 daughters and 8526 sons) in 17 OECD destination countries, coming from 45 origin countries or regions, using PISA 2009 data. In addition to the societal gender equality levels of the origin and destination countries (the gender…

This article examines gender gaps in academic performance (grades in mathematics and reading) between boys and girls of ninth-grade elementary schools in the Czech Republic. Our analysis is based on 2003 data from the Programme for International Student Assessment, encompassing the academic performance and family background of ninth-grade pupils.…

Since the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2000 and 2009 surveys both focused on reading, one can track in detail how student reading performance has changed over that period. Among the 26 OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries with comparable results in both assessments, Chile, Germany,…

When you think of someone who is an engineer, do you imagine a man or a woman wearing a hardhat? How about when you imagine a teacher standing in front of a class of schoolchildren? If you answer "a man" to the first question, and "a woman" to the second, there's probably a reason. And the reason is simply that more men than…

Using data from the Program for International Student Assessment 2006 surveys for 50 countries, this paper explores gender segregation of adolescent science career plans. We ask whether, in different cultures, bridging the male-female gap in science self-concept could reduce gender disparities in students' career preferences. Bringing together the…

Using data from 24 countries, which participated in the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), we examine the relationship between parental science employment and students' career expectations. In contrast to prior PISA-based studies, we find that the link between parental employment and adolescent plans to work in science is…

Eliot, a neuroscientist who has analyzed gender differences in children's brains, asserts that--contrary to the widely held idea that boys' and girls' brains are hardwired differently--few differences exist in the neural structures and neurochemistry of boys' and girls' brains. Actual ability differences between the genders are quite small as…

Education Indicators in Focus is a recurring series of briefs that highlight specific indicators in OECD's Education at a Glance that are of particular interest to policy makers and practitioners. They provide a detailed look into current issues in pre-primary, primary and secondary education, higher education, and adult outcomes from a global…

The aim of the present study is twofold: (1) to investigate gender differences in the effects of science interest and environmental responsibility on science aspiration and achievement and (2) to explore the relations between cultural supports (macroeconomic and gender equality) and both boys' and girls' tendencies to integrate the aforementioned…

Equity in education is a key concern internationally; however, it is rare that this issue is examined separately for low- and high-achieving students and concurrently across different subject domains. This study examines student and school background characteristics associated with low and high achievement in mathematics and science on the…

Boys' literacy underachievement continues to garner significant attention and has been identified by journalists, educational policymakers, and scholars in the field as the cause for much concern. It has been established that boys perform less well than girls on literacy benchmark or standardized tests. According to the National Assessment of…

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of adolescent career plans reported in PISA 2006. Its main focus is on the differences in the status and area of employment expected by girls and boys in high school. In almost all countries, girls lead boys in their interest in non-manual, high status professional occupations. This can be seen as a…

In this article, we investigate whether adolescent girls are more determined to enter professional careers compared to boys across countries. To this end, we analyse the data from the 2006 survey of OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). First, we establish whether girls are more ambitious than boys net of their academic…

"World of Warcraft" is an online computer game with over nine million players, many of them technically-minded young males. A proportion of these young males engage in spontaneous creative writing about their game adventures. They enjoy highly formulaic genres, such as the epic poem, with its complex technical requirements. This has…