Gender

In the national initiative to expand five-unit mathematics, the number of eligible students more than doubled, along with gender parity among graduates. This achievement showed that expanding the circle of excellence can go hand in hand with narrowing gaps. In physics and computer science, by contrast, the picture is different. While mathematics is a compulsory subject in which students choose their level, the science subjects require choosing a major. Although many female students arrive with strong mathematical abilities, their share among students of these subjects is still significantly lower than that of male students.

PISA results showed how far progress is from guaranteed. In 2022, after the pandemic, the share of top-performing boys in mathematics rose while the share of top-performing girls fell. In state-religious education, the gap reached four top-performing boys for every top-performing girl. Although the gender gap in the average score narrowed in 2025, the share of top performers fell sharply among both boys and girls. The results remind us that the challenge is not only to reach parity but to expand the whole group of top performers.

In the 2024 roadmap, we set a goal of gender parity in High-Tech Matriculation and chose to make it a cross-cutting priority across all of the Foundation’s initiatives. Over the past two years, we have begun to turn this goal into action. With the leadership of state-religious education and the religious school networks, we worked to develop responses in middle schools. In our High-Tech Matriculation partnerships with municipalities, school networks, and districts, gender targets were set and focused efforts began to increase female students’ participation. We supported the development of tools and the training of teachers for gender-sensitive teaching, also in connection with mental resilience. And we launched a social media campaign aimed especially at female students and their parents. This work is expanding, but it is still too early to know how far it affects choice and persistence.

The new studies prepared for the International Advisory Council’s discussions help us better understand where the potential lies. The Aaron Institute found that many female students are one subject short of completing High-Tech Matriculation, especially in more advantaged schools that offer many choices. Student and parent surveys indicate that female students tend to perceive the track as more difficult and less useful for their future, and that parents are less likely to encourage their daughters to choose it than their sons. Other studies show that schools also play a part in shaping this choice: the way majors are presented, how female students are encouraged to join, how admission requirements are set and how students are helped to cope with difficulty all affect their willingness to choose the track and persist in it.