Langen, Annemarie Van, Roel Bosker, and Hetty Dekkers. “Exploring Cross-national Differences in Gender Gaps in Education.” Educational Research and Evaluation 12, no. 2 (2006): 155-77. doi:10.1080/13803610600587016.

This article explores the major gender difference gaps in education internationally. It was no surprise to the author of the article, Annemaria Van Langen, that the biggest achievement gap among boys and girls in school was in subjects such as math, science, technology and engineering.  The study goes into what kinds of schools are more successful when it comes to narrowing the gap between boys and girl’s achievement in various areas.  It was found that schools that typically have girls participating in STEM subjects at a young age and are encouraged relative to how their male peers are usually want to pursue a career in STEM later on.  Schools that shown qualities and activities that put their students on the same level regardless of gender typically had more girls who had a greater intrest in these subjects. However, the variation in participation in STEM subjects between genders was still significant even in more progressive schools. Male students always had a higher level of engagement in these subjects across the board. This article goes into the possible reasons this may occur and analyses the potential reasons why this happens.