Student gender stereotypes: contrasting the perceived maleness and femaleness of mathematics and language |
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| Authors: | Isabelle Plante Manon Théorêt Olga Eizner Favreau |
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| Institution: | 1. Université de Montréal, Psychopédagogie et Andragogie , Montréal , Quebec , Canada;2. Université de Montréal, Psychologie , Montréal , Quebec , Canada |
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| Abstract: | The purpose of this study was to evaluate the gender stereotypes endorsed by elementary and high school students regarding mathematics and language. We developed a questionnaire allowing students to rate mathematics and language as either male or female domains and administered it to a sample of 984 elementary and high school French‐speaking Canadian students (Grades 6, 8, and 10). Results showed that, with the exception of Grade 6 boys, students did not believe that mathematics was a male domain, or even conceived of mathematics as a predominantly female domain, suggesting that the traditional stereotype favouring boys in mathematics might have changed over the past few years. Moreover, language was clearly viewed as a female domain. Overall, our findings suggest that boys seem to be in need of encouragement in school, especially regarding language, where the advantage given to girls is particularly salient. |
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| Keywords: | gender stereotypes mathematics language adolescence |
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