African Educational Research Journal Vol. 8(4) - Gender and Performance Disparity in Mathematics: A Study of South Western Uganda

Oct 15, 2026

Gender is examined as a long-standing factor behind performance differences between male and female students in education. Despite shared classroom instruction in Uganda, Mathematics outcomes in national examinations show visible disparities. The study compares male and female students’ Mathematics performance and identifies explanatory factors. Using a mixed-method design with 222 participants, findings show performance variation is not attributable to gender. The paper challenges the assumption that girls are inherently weaker in non-“soft” subjects, linking disparities to broader social constructions rather than evidence.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Background and concept of gender

Gender parity and enrolment trends

STEM and science education policy context

Study organization and research approach

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 8(4), pp. 664-673, October 2020 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.84.20.133 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper Gender and performance disparity in mathematics: A study of South Western Uganda Amos Musimenta, Francis Akena Adyanga* and Denis Sekiwu Kabale University, P.O. Box 317, Kabale Municipality, Uganda. Accepted 9 September, 2020 | ABSTRACT
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.
Keywords: Gender, mathematics, performance disparity, male, female. | | --- | | E-mail: *Corresponding author. E-mail: [fakena@kab.ac. ug](fakena@kab.ac. ug). | INTRODUCTION Gender refers to the social construction of diverse physical, biological, mental and behavioural characteristics relating to differences between the male and female sex . It is a social and cultural construction of roles, access to and control over resources between men and women, or boys and girls in society (Fennell and Arnot, 2008; Chilisa and Ntseane, 2010; Fogliati and Bussey 2013; MoES, 2016; Akena, 2020) . Accordingly, gender characterizes the differing social roles, responsibilities, constraints, opportunities and needs of females and males in any given social context (Filgona, 2016; Akena, 2020) . In Uganda, gender has long been a common concept at the centre of the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) concern regarding academic performance. This concern mainly gained ground between the 1990s and early 2000, with the advent of multiple education interventions to bridge gender gaps in academic achievement (Kaahwa, 2012) . An example of such interventions is the formation of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), a notfor-profit Organization. The Organization was launched in February 1997, as part of a Pan-African group with strategies to promote gender equality in education on behalf of MoES. Uganda achieved gender parity on enrolment into primary schools in 2014. While in Secondary schools, enrolment has increased from 54% for boys and 46% for girls in 2008 to 53% for boys and 47% for girls in 2014. For Tertiary institutions, total enrolment for females increased from 38% in 2002 to 44% in 2014 (MoES, 2016) . Though there is increasing evidence to show that the proportion of female students taking up science courses in post-secondary institutions is on the rise, this rate is still lower among girls (Kaahwa, 2012; Mbabaali, 2018; MoES, 2016) . Following the recommendations of the Education Policy Review Commission of 1998, the Ugandan government in a bid to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), introduced the Science Education Policy in 2005. The policy made science subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics obligatory for all secondary school students up to form four (Adyanga, 2014) . To boost enrolment in science courses in post-secondary ins

FAQs

What was the study’s main aim regarding gender and Mathematics?

To compare male and female students’ Mathematics performance and establish factors that could account for any differences.

What research design and sample size were used?

A mixed-method design was used, with a sample of 222 participants.

According to the study, is Mathematics performance variation attributable to gender?

No. The major findings show that variation in Mathematics performance cannot be attributable to gender.

Oct 15, 2026

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