Alarming Reversal: Girls' Global Math Progress Eroded Post-Pandemic, Study Finds
Breaking: Gender Gap in Math Achievement Widens Sharply
An international study released last week reveals a troubling reversal: girls worldwide are falling further behind boys in math, erasing over a decade of progress toward gender equity. The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data shows that in 2023, fourth-grade boys outperformed girls in the vast majority of countries, widening the gap that existed before the pandemic.
Among eighth-graders, the rate of boys scoring higher than girls has increased exponentially since 2019. The report, conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement in partnership with UNESCO, marks the first TIMSS assessment since the pandemic began.
Expert Quote: ‘Quite Concerning’
Matthias Eck, a program specialist at UNESCO’s Section of Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality, told EdSurge, “In the latest data, we see that the gap is widening again between girls and boys, and that’s at the detriment of girls, which is quite concerning.” Eck noted that prior data showed girls were catching up, but the pandemic may have reversed those gains.
He added that longer school closures appear correlated with higher learning loss in math for girls. “One of the hypotheses is that those disruptions during the pandemic may have exacerbated existing disparities and reduced learning opportunities for girls,” Eck said.
Background: A Decade of Progress Undone
Before COVID-19, global math achievement gaps had been steadily narrowing for over a decade. The TIMSS study, published every four years, measures fourth- and eighth-grade math and science performance across dozens of countries. The 2023 results, however, show that nearly 85% of top-performing fourth-grade students are boys. Among eighth-graders, slightly more than half of countries report an advanced math achievement gap favoring boys, while none favor girls in either grade.
The data also reveals that the proportion of regions where more girls than boys fail to reach basic math proficiency is rising. For fourth-graders, the gender gap in underperformance is growing; for eighth-graders, while the overall gap in underperformance is shrinking, the number of countries where girls have a higher failure rate has spiked dramatically.
What This Means: A Setback for Gender Equity in Education
The findings echo similar trends observed in U.S. data from the Nation’s Report Card released last year. Researchers caution that the pandemic’s disruptions—school closures, reduced learning time, and potential impacts on girls’ confidence—may have disproportionately affected female students.
Eck emphasized that the relationship between school closures and learning loss is a hypothesis, but the correlation is strong. “The fact that girls were out of school and were not in the learning environment could have impacted their confidence,” he said. The data highlights an urgent need for targeted interventions to support girls’ math achievement and prevent long-term setbacks that could affect their future careers in STEM fields.
As global education systems recover, policymakers must address the underlying causes of this widening gap. Without swift action, the gains made in math equity over the past decade could be permanently lost, leaving a generation of girls at a disadvantage.