UNESCO says girls outperforming male counterparts in math, reading

SCHOOLGIRLS are outperforming their male counterparts in key subjects, with the gap in the Philippines quantified at 1.4 percentage points in mathematics by Grade 8, according to a report issued on Wednesday by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

According to UNESCO’s Gender Report: Deepening the Debate on Those Still Left Behind, the broad conclusions were arrived at from data compiled from primary and secondary students in 120 countries.

In a statement, UNESCO said the gender gap in learning has closed in the poorest countries, with some countries even reversing the gap.

“For example, by Grade 8, the gap is in favor of girls in mathematics by 7 percentage points in Malaysia, by 3 points in Cambodia, by 1.7 points in Congo and by 1.4 points in the Philippines,” according to a UNESCO statement.

According to the report, girls outperform boys in reading in primary education, an advantage that increases with age.

It added that in subjects traditionally seen as unfriendly to girls, they tend to perform better in societies that recognize the importance of gender equality.

This outperformance extends to situations “where more girls study STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects in tertiary education,” the report noted.

“This may also be one reason why girls tend to choose STEM-related subjects in universities,” UNESCO said.

Globally, the number of students enrolled in tertiary institutions increased to 235 million in 2020 from 100 million in 2000. The share of women in the student population rose from 48.8% to 51.9% during this period.

However, the report found that girls are still less likely to be top performers because of continuing biases and stereotypes. — Keisha B. Ta-asan