Lower secondary school students’ gendered conceptions about mathematics and related careers

Sweden is considered as one of the leading countries regarding equity work, but at the same time a country with a highly segregated labour market. This is true for graduate education as well, especially in mathematics, but not at secondary level. Previous studies have concluded that mathematics is considered a male domain, but little is known about mathematics and related careers. Here, the focus is on lower secondary students, and an online questionnaire was used. The results show that little gender stereotyping was made by both groups, but there were some nuances in the replies. Boys more often thought that female teachers and mums would reply that it is more important for boys to study mathematics in order to get a good job. Regarding who has the best requisites to study mathematics, the main response was ”Both”. The qualitative replies signal a relatively advanced understanding of gender as a social construct.http://matematikdidaktik.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MADIF13_final.pdf#page=33