Gender and performance disparity in mathematics: A study of South Western Uganda
Gender has long been considered a factor contributing to differences in performance for male and female students in diverse educational disciplines and levels. Although male and female students are taught in the same classrooms in most Ugandan schools, there have been noticeable differences in Mat...
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Language: | en_US |
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African Educational Research Journal
2020
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/453 |
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author | Amos, Musimenta Francis Akena, Adyanga Denis, Sekiwu |
author_facet | Amos, Musimenta Francis Akena, Adyanga Denis, Sekiwu |
author_sort | Amos, Musimenta |
collection | KAB-DR |
description | Gender has long been considered a factor contributing to differences in performance for male and female
students in diverse educational disciplines and levels. Although male and female students are taught in the
same classrooms in most Ugandan schools, there have been noticeable differences in Mathematics
performance in national examinations across the country. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare male
and female students’ performance in Mathematics and to establish factors accounting for the differences.
Using the Mixed method design, a sample size of 222 participants was recruited. The major findings
revealed that variation in Mathematics performance cannot be attributable to gender. The study
deconstructs the common gender-biased assumption that girls are naturally a ‘weaker sex’ and hence likely
to embrace subjects that are considered ‘soft’ such as language, literacy, communication skills, social
sciences among others. Such assumptions commonly fronted inadvertently without considering possible
negative consequences, are based on societal construction of social differences with no substantive
evidence as demonstrated in this study. |
format | Article |
id | oai:idr.kab.ac.ug:20.500.12493-453 |
institution | KAB-DR |
language | en_US |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | African Educational Research Journal |
record_format | dspace |
spelling | oai:idr.kab.ac.ug:20.500.12493-4532024-01-17T04:49:36Z Gender and performance disparity in mathematics: A study of South Western Uganda Amos, Musimenta Francis Akena, Adyanga Denis, Sekiwu Gender, mathematics, performance disparity, male, female. Gender has long been considered a factor contributing to differences in performance for male and female students in diverse educational disciplines and levels. Although male and female students are taught in the same classrooms in most Ugandan schools, there have been noticeable differences in Mathematics performance in national examinations across the country. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare male and female students’ performance in Mathematics and to establish factors accounting for the differences. Using the Mixed method design, a sample size of 222 participants was recruited. The major findings revealed that variation in Mathematics performance cannot be attributable to gender. The study deconstructs the common gender-biased assumption that girls are naturally a ‘weaker sex’ and hence likely to embrace subjects that are considered ‘soft’ such as language, literacy, communication skills, social sciences among others. Such assumptions commonly fronted inadvertently without considering possible negative consequences, are based on societal construction of social differences with no substantive evidence as demonstrated in this study. Kabale University 2020-11-17T07:27:17Z 2020-11-17T07:27:17Z 2020 Article 2354-2160 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/453 en_US ;664-673 application/pdf African Educational Research Journal |
spellingShingle | Gender, mathematics, performance disparity, male, female. Amos, Musimenta Francis Akena, Adyanga Denis, Sekiwu Gender and performance disparity in mathematics: A study of South Western Uganda |
title | Gender and performance disparity in mathematics: A study of South Western Uganda |
title_full | Gender and performance disparity in mathematics: A study of South Western Uganda |
title_fullStr | Gender and performance disparity in mathematics: A study of South Western Uganda |
title_full_unstemmed | Gender and performance disparity in mathematics: A study of South Western Uganda |
title_short | Gender and performance disparity in mathematics: A study of South Western Uganda |
title_sort | gender and performance disparity in mathematics a study of south western uganda |
topic | Gender, mathematics, performance disparity, male, female. |
url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/453 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT amosmusimenta genderandperformancedisparityinmathematicsastudyofsouthwesternuganda AT francisakenaadyanga genderandperformancedisparityinmathematicsastudyofsouthwesternuganda AT denissekiwu genderandperformancedisparityinmathematicsastudyofsouthwesternuganda |