2020年了为何还有人认为女生不擅长数学？

（原标题：2020年了，为何还有人认为女生不擅长数学？）

“男生用蓝版，女生用红版。”

日前，华东师范大学出版社推出了一套名为《男生女生学数学》的教辅材料。

据出版社介绍，该系列教辅基于大数据分析和学者研究反馈，结合男生、女生对数学知识点的学习特点，分别设计了男生版和女生版教辅，旨在“使男女生发挥各自优势、帮助男女生根据实际情况找出数学学习的薄弱环节、为学习进步找到突破口。”

这一教辅引发了不少网友的批评和质疑。有网友认为，出版社以性别划分为“噱头”，强化了学科学习的性别差异，会误导学生产生刻板的性别认识。

还有网友指出，出版社在微信公众号文章中使用了“我女儿数学不错，就买男生版吧”这样的标题，是在变相强调“男生数学能力强于女生”，有性别歧视之嫌。

面对争议，华东师范大学出版社8月19日在官方微博发表声明，称该套书即日起终止出版。

A newly published supplementary book on math has sparked wide controversy in China because it is divided into two editions by gender. The publisher, East China Normal University Press, raised eyebrows in an article titled "My daughter is good at math, should I buy the boy edition for her?"

Facing criticism that it was promoting misconceptions about gender differences in math performance, the publisher announced on Wednesday that the book has officially been taken off the shelves.

帮女生考高分？牛津大学延长数学考试时间

无独有偶，英国牛津大学也曾因为男女在数学学科上的差异化言论遭到批评。

2018年，牛津大学决定在不改变考题难度和数量的前提下，将数学系和计算机系考试时间由原来的90分钟延长至105分钟。校方认为延长考试时间可以帮助女生提高成绩。

牛津大学在一份校方内部文件中表示，“人们普遍认为女生对时间更敏感、更容易感到时间压力，但考试应该考察的是数学理解力，而不是比速度。延长考试时间，有助减轻那些对时间压力比较敏感的女生受到的影响，进而减轻近年日益扩大的男女成绩差异”。

这一做法遭到了部分学生和教师的批评，他们认为此举涉嫌性别歧视，暗示女性数学成绩不如男性。

In 2018, the University of Oxford extended the length of math and computer science exams from 90 to 105 minutes as part of an effort to help women achieve better grades.

According to a document acquired by The Times newspaper, the university believed that the changes would serve to "mitigate the gender gap that has arisen in recent years, and in any case the exam should be a demonstration of mathematical understandings and not a time trial."

Some critics of the measure have argued that such effort is "sexist" and presupposes that women are worse at math than men.

男生真的比女生更擅长数学吗？

“女生学数学很吃力。”

“女生数学成绩总是比不过男生了。”

“为什么女生学数学会比较困难？”

……

在大家的学生生涯中，是否听过很多类似的话？

那么男生真的比女生更擅长数学吗？让我们来看一看这方面的一些研究结果。

由经济合作与发展组织（OCED）主办的国际学生能力评估测试(PISA)，每三年举行一次，是目前世界上规模最大、最具权威性的教育评估项目之一。每次测试，数万名来自全球70多个国家和地区的15岁青少年将接受数学、阅读、科学三个科目的考察。法国学者托马斯?布雷达(Thomas Breda)和克洛蒂尔德?纳普(Clotilde Napp)对测试结果进行分析后发现，男女生在数学成绩上的差别非常小。

Every three years, hundreds of thousands of 15-year-olds from more than 70 countries and regions take part in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), run by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Students complete tests in math, reading and science in the PISA. When French scholars Thomas Breda and Clotilde Napp looked at the data from the program, they found that there were very small gender gaps in math performance.

由国际教育成就评价协会（IEA）开展的国际数学与科学趋势研究项目（TIMSS）每四年举办一次，主要考察各国四年级和八年级学生的数学与科学学科成绩。美国心理学家妮可?艾尔斯-卡斯特（Nicole Else-Quest）分析测试结果后发现，相较于男生，女生在数学上并没有处于劣势。在部分项目上，女生的表现甚至比男生更优异。

Nicole Else-Quest, an American psychologist examined data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS), and found that girls around the world are not worse at math than boys and sometimes even better than their male peers.

关于“女性和数学”的刻板印象

2019年3月19日，挪威科学与文学院在奥斯陆宣布，将2019年的阿贝尔奖（Abel Prize）颁给美国数学家凯伦?凯斯库拉?乌伦贝克（Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck），以表彰她在分析、几何和数学物理方面的成就。阿贝尔奖被誉为“数学界的诺贝尔奖”，乌伦贝克是第一位获此殊荣的女性数学家。

On March 19, 2019, U.S. mathematician Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck was awarded the 2019 Abel Prize – seen by many as the Nobel Prize in mathematics – for her wide-ranging work in analysis, geometry and mathematical physics. Uhlenbeck is the first woman to win the prize, which is given out by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters to honor the 19th-century Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel.

在乌伦贝克1996年的一篇论文中，她曾这样写道：“因为我们是女性，所以被告知不能研究数学……我喜欢做我这件不被支持的事情，这是一种合法的反叛。”

"We were told that we couldn’t do math because we were women," Uhlenbeck wrote in a 1996 essay. "I liked doing what I wasn't supposed to do, it was a sort of legitimate rebellion."

从乌伦贝克身上，不难看出女性参与数学研究的困难和不易。

但女性与数学之间并无任何自然的障碍，女性成为数学家的障碍来自于社会环境。

2005年，时任哈佛大学校长劳伦斯?萨默斯（Lawrence Summers）在一次演讲中声称，“男女之间的先天性差别可能是导致女性在数理领域鲜有建树的原因。”

萨默斯最终因为这番涉嫌性别歧视的言论辞去了校长一职，他的这番言论也恰好反映了社会中普遍存在的一个刻板印象——“女性天生不擅长数理。”

联合国教科文组织2017年出版一份调查报告指出，性别刻板印象和歧视一定程度上会破坏女性的学习体验，也使她们的教育方面的选择大为受限。

科学、技术、工程和数学（Science, Technology, Engineering和Mathematics,简称STEM）教育领域存在的性别不平等现象尤为显著。高等教育阶段，STEM相关研究领域的所有学生中，只有35％是女性；目前全球研究人员队伍中，女性占比仅为28％。

Gender stereotypes and biased attitudes compromise the quality of the learning experience for female students and limit their education choices.

The gender disparity in STEM education is striking. In higher education, only 35% of all students enrolled in STEM-related fields are female. Today, only 28% of all of the world’s researchers are women.

报告还指出，尽管研究表明女性和男性在STEM学科上的学习能力没有什么差异，但社会环境影响下，很多女性从小就被灌输了类似“男生更适合STEM学科”的观点，这大大打击了她们参与STEM学科的自信心和积极性。

Girls are often brought up to believe that STEM subjects are "masculine" topics and that female ability in STEM is innately inferior to that of males. While research on biological factors belies any factual basis for such beliefs, they persist and undermine girls' confidence, interest and willingness to engage in STEM subjects.