ABSTRACT
Since the early 1970s I have been studying and wondering about gender differences in mathematics. My first article was published in 1974 and was a review of extant work that had been done on sex difference in mathematics. I concluded that there was evidence to support the idea that there were differences between girls’ and boys’ learning of mathematics, particularly in items that required complex reasoning; that these differences increased at about the onset of adolescence; and that these differences were recognized by many leading mathematics educators. As an aside, it was really the writing of that 1974 article that turned me into an active feminist, compelling me to recognize the bias that existed toward females, which was exemplified by the recognition and acceptance by the mathematics education community at large of gender differences in mathematics as legitimate.
