Solving it correctly: Prevalence and persistence of gender gap in basic mathematics in rural India

Using multiple datasets on learning outcomes of over 2 million children in the age group 8–16 years from rural India, the paper examines the prevalence and persistence of gender gap in performance in mathematics. We observe significant and persistent gender gap in mathematics, which is not found in reading outcomes. The northern states lag behind and the southern ones show a ‘reverse gender gap’. Pre-existing household practices and societal gender norms are found to explain this difference significantly. The findings call for the need to understand these gaps granularly and inform gender-specific educational interventions for mathematics.