Background of the Study

Gender is a complex, dynamic force that affects every social interaction, including

interactions in educational settings. Its effects are woven into educational outcomes,

and at times contribute to complicated disparities, specifically in the field of mathematics

education.

Mathematical ability and gender nowadays has an explicitly remarks all over the

world and has to be tested and observed by the researchers. Due to the situation

between who has the higher thinking skills in mathematics, attitude and performance

was one of the key to tell whether who is the smart one.

Mathematics has been viewed as a subject favoring male students due to factors

like attitude, methods used for teaching and so on. This has resulted to gender

differences between male and female students in Mathematics performance. The study

sought to find out the relationship between gender of students and mathematics

performance.

Mathematics has a great impact in all aspects. The world continues to improve and

became more significant through the use of mathematics as an instrument for potential,

socio -economic, scientific and technological development and advancements. It is a

subject with many benefits but is often not accorded the needed embracement for its full

importance to be realized. It is a central significance to our society and provides the vital
underpinning of the knowledge economy. Mathematics, as a tool for understanding and

application of science and technology, plays an important role of a pre-cursur and

harbinger to the much needed technological and of course national development, which

has become an imperative in the developing nations of the world. The choice of this

topic is predicated on the current world trend and research emphasis on gender issues.

However, measurable differences existed for complex problem-solving beginning in

the high school years (d = +0.29 favoring males), which might forecast the under

representation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

careers.

Abiam and Odok (2006) found no significant relationship between gender and

achievement in number and numeration, algebraic processes and statistics in Nigerian

schools. They however found the existence of a weak significant relationship in

Geometry and Trigonometry. Several national surveys in the United State (Armstrong,

1981; Ethington & Wolfe, 1984; Fennema & Sherman, 1978; Levine & Ornstein, 1983;

Fennema & Sherman, 1978) reached the general conclusion that gender differences

are more likely to emerge as students take more difficult course work in high school and

college.

A number of potential explanations exist for why these small gender differences

persist and why larger gaps exists in math-related career choices. Explanations of these

differences have tended to fall into two camps. Benbow and Stanley (1980, 1983) have
argued that they reflect genetically rooted sex differences in math ability. On the other

hand ( Eccles et. Al 1987) argue that these differences reflect gender-role socialization,

such that males, far more than females, are encouraged to participate in mathematics

and the sciences and that the cumulative effects of this differential socialization are

most evident on difficult material.

The entire debate on gender differences, literature and observations reached have

centered on Western samples and a few ones from Asia, whilst very little data came

from developing countries such as Ghana. The paucity of data in this respect limits our

understanding of the general phenomenon of gender differences worldwide. Perhaps, a

consideration of the African factor, or a third world, in general would have shaded some

light on our understanding of the general gender differences, and a quest of social

mediators in the debate. It is the aim of this study to examine whether the performance

of males in mathematics differ in any significant way from their females counterparts.

Many researchers have become concerned with the media portrayal of gender

differences in mathematics. The notion of sex appropriate behavior in regard to

achievement continues to be reinforced and even perpetuated by the media (Leder,

1984, 1985; Sherman, 1987). By promoting the attitude that girls cannot be expected to

do as well as boys in math, the end result is that girls do not do as well not because of

skill as much as societal expectations. Much more research is needed before we reach

an understanding of why these differences occur, and caution needs to be exercised in

interpreting results.
 Relevant research on this topic has lead to conflicting results. Males have been

found to perform better in some studies and girls in others. The research has indicated

that differences are minimal at the primary school level, but more evidence is found that

gender differences in mathematical performance begin to emerge at the junior high

level.

Starting in adolescence, some differences appear (boys score approximately 30-35

points higher than girls on the math portion of the SAT). But, scores on different

subcategories of math vary tremendously. According to the Philippine College Board

Scholastic Aptitude Test in Math 2016 results showed 100% good scores 8 out 8

students got scores above mean of 500 as compared to SAT 2015 with only 66.67%

good score.

That means that how we test for math ability is a political choice. If you report who

is best at math, the answer is boys. If you report average math ability, it’s about the

same. How you decide to test math ability is also political. Even though boys

outperform girls on the SAT, it turns out those scores do not predict math performance

in classes. Girls frequently outperform boys in the classroom.

And, since girls often outperform boys in a practical setting, math aptitude (even

measured at the levels of outstanding instead of average performance) doesn’t explain

sex disparities in science careers (most of which, incidentally, only require you to be
pretty good at math, as opposed to wildly genius at it). In any case, scoring high in math

is only loosely related to who opts for a scientific career, especially for girls. Many high

scoring girls don’t go into science, and many poor scoring boys do.

For nearly all the other countries, there were no significant sex differences. In

Iceland, girls outshine boys significantly. So finding that boys outperform girls within a

country does not mean that boys outperform girls across all countries. Still, even in

Iceland, girls overwhelmingly express more negative attitudes towards math.

Over the last decades, psychologists have grappled with the nature and the origin

of gender differences in behavior and cognition. Research on gender differences, its

causes and consequences is not only of academic interest, but concerns general

academic policy. Gender differences in mathematics performance and ability remain a

concern as scientists seek to address the under representation of women at the highest

levels of mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering.

Despite spirited gender awareness efforts, gender disparity in students’

performance in Mathematics persist. Hence, there is a need to explore more on gender

differences in students’ achievement in Mathematics in secondary schools with a view

of suggesting possible intervention strategies. Hence the need for such a study.

The research dwells to the mathematical ability and gender differences and aimed

to enlighten the minds of the readers and the next researchers into its deeper

connotation. First, the research aimed to determine the attitude/behavior of the students
during their math classes because it is commonly observed/noticed that among the

students, girls have strenuous attributes. Second, performance of the students during

their math class, boys are more active in participating during class. In addition, the

research aimed to determine whether age really matters in gathering results to tell

whether who is more smart between male and female.