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The writer chairs the Board of Trustees of National Numeracy, a UK charity
We know the UK has a productivity problem. The gender pay gap is also well documented. A number of recent reports have identified career barriers faced by women, which include the prevalence of gender stereotypes and a lack of representation of female entrepreneurs and role models. The 2019 Rose Review concluded that if the UK achieved the same rates of female entrepreneurship and business ownership as our “best-in-class” peers, it could add £200 billion to our GDP.
But what if this picture is linked to the persistent gap in numeracy skills and confidence experienced by women and girls?
The OECD's International Education Rankings (PISA) show that on average, over the past 20 years, the UK has remained among the worst countries for the gap in mathematics performance between 15-year-old boys and girls. The situation is not improving. In the last two rounds of the Pisa rankings (2022 and 2018), the UK fell to the bottom 10 per cent.
This gender gap at age 15 has – unsurprisingly – contributed to the large numeracy gap we see among the country's adults today, with widespread evidence showing that it negatively impacts career choices, financial health and overall well-being. So why is this so difficult for the UK – and for others with the same problems, such as Italy, Peru and the US?
What can these countries learn from others? There does not appear to be an immediate common approach between the diverse countries that show little gender gap in mathematics at age 15 – Kazakhstan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, South Korea, Greece, Turkey, Cambodia, Norway and Sweden.
The group of countries that performed better also shows that the gender gap in mathematics cannot be explained by the innate ability of girls and boys. Instead, the report suggests that social and cultural influences in countries with a wide gap reinforce stereotypical attitudes and behaviour. These expectations exist in learners but also in teachers, parents and carers.
A comparison of the contrasting Pisa 2022 results in Finland, which has a small gender gap in mathematics, and neighboring Estonia, which performed well in the study, concluded: “Gender differences in achievement therefore appear neither innate nor inevitable, but exist “. Devastating effects on a person's overall sense of security and professional and personal prosperity.
In the UK, the critical age appears to be between 10 and 15, when the gender gap in mathematics triples. Fewer girls are committing to STEM subjects after GCSEs or going into science and technology careers. By age 15, girls are less likely to believe they can do math and science or enter technical programs and internships.
National Account research provides some illuminating details. Women worry twice as much about math as men. They are 66 percent more likely to defer a job listed as “using data and numbers” and are disproportionately affected by negative experiences with mathematics in school. A study by the European Investment Bank in the Netherlands showed that women disproportionately answer financial literacy questions with “I don’t know,” even when they have the right answer.
The cultural problem can also be seen in the final analysis of self-evaluation. For math and science tasks, women consistently describe their performance less favorably than that of equal men. However, this gap does not apply to assessing tasks such as reading. The research concludes that this gap in self-promotion results in women being much less likely to earn the same amount of money or get a job compared to their equally skilled male peers.
What can he do? The OECD concludes that the key to narrowing gender gaps in education and employment is awareness of the problem. A new National Accounts Taskforce on Gender has just begun work, bringing together employers from Capital One, Barclays and Scottish Widows to NHS England, Mumsnet and Oliver Wyman. The group intends to address attitudes and confidence building, the role of employers, the need for clear role models and generational skills shortages.
The potential upside is huge. Productivity and growth have been shown to benefit from developing talent among the working population – especially from groups that were previously pigeonholed in the economy. But we also expect enhanced individual well-being and indirect effects such as increased entrepreneurship among women.
And it's not just women: the benefits of a comprehensive approach to numeracy will be felt in all economies affected by this problem.
