Problems of Gender in University Mathematics

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Abstract
This article presents the findings of a series of surveys on attitude towards mathematics carried out at the University of Edinburgh, as well as the analysis of national data on women's participation and performance in university mathematics. The main goal of the study was to ascertain whether there were gender differences in mathematics students' attitudes and achievement, and to obtain some idea of the scale of such differences. While some results confirmed findings from previous research regarding women's observed tendency to view mathematics more negatively than men, the overall picture showed only weak evidence of important attitudinal gender differences among the students surveyed. In the course of the surveys, several assumptions regarding the interpretation of perceived gender differences had to be examined and re‐evaluated in the context of a framework which took into account the meanings of gender and gender‐identity development. The national data showed very small gender differences in final degree results, but there was a rather large difference in women's participation rates between the Scottish and English universities.

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