ABSTRACT
It was not until the 1970s in the USA that attention was given to differentiation in mathematics achievement by sex, led by the work of Elizabeth Fennema. (See, in particular, Fennema and Sherman, 1977; 1978; Maccoby and Jacklin, 1975.) The focus of this early work, which has been the first stage of activity in many different countries, was data gathering. Observations of apparent gender bias in rates of participation in mathematics course taking, as well as performance results on tests which were publicly administered or reported, led to attempts to answer the question: What is going on? Nel Noddings has called this the first of three generations of feminist research where women are seeking equality with men (see Hart, 1992).
