Despite numerous measures, gender stereotypes about abilities in mathematics and reading persist in schools, affecting both boys' and girls' schooling and educational choices. Inequalities also persist outside the classroom, where women, despite greater educational attainment, experience lower employment rates and often receive lower salaries than men with similar levels of education. Nonetheless, the many measures taken by countries have brought some encouraging signs of progress. However, more work is needed to ensure that improvements in education are also reflected in improvements once boys and girls transition into the world of work.
Boys are better at mathematics and girls at reading. These stereotypes emerge from an early age and are persistent at school, despite the many measures taken to reduce the gaps. Later in life, the gender gap in mathematics tends to increase, while girls’ advantage in reading tends to disappear.
• There is a strong negative correlation across OECD countries between gender gaps in mathematics and reading. In other words, countries with a wider gap in reading in PISA 2022 tend to have a narrower gap in mathematics, and vice versa.
• Boys’ lower performance in reading translates into greater difficulties in obtaining an upper secondary qualification. However, although girls now outnumber boys in tertiary education in all countries, they remain under-represented in the most sought-after fields in the labour market.
• Although some progress has been made over the last decade, women still experience lower employment rates and often receive lower salaries than men with similar levels of education.
Gender inequality in education and beyond is a hotly debated topic in most countries, even more so on 8 March, International Women’s Rights Day. It is also the subject of numerous publications and high-level meetings within the OECD ((OECD, 2023[1]) and (Encinas-Martín, M. and M. Cherian, 2023[2])). Education policies that favour equality have also proliferated in recent decades, both during and after education, but have they been effective? What are the current trends, and what indicators are used to measure progress and disparities between countries?
