Gender in Mathematics Education in Ghana

Girls’ participation in Mathematics (Math) has been dwindling steadily over the years in Ghana despite government effort to improve this historical Math discourse. This study therefore provides an insight into the wide range of complex network of Social and Institutional factors that have contributed to the lower proportions of girls pursuing Math and Math-related programmes at the SHSs and beyond in Ghana. These factors often times are institutionalized and reflected in the society. This implicitly or explicitly create the impression that females are incompetent learners of Math. This becomes a matter-of-fact knowledge stereotyping girls and interpellating them to avoid Math through the process of socialization. The majority of girls feel trapped in this praxis to the extent that they eventually develop negative attitudes towards Math. In a logical presentation and using the lenses of social constructivist and feminist related theoretical perspectives, the findings from the field have been extensively discussed to give a better insight to the reader. This book will serve as a relevant text to academia, gender activists, as well as parents and the general public.