Girls’ underrepresentation in high-level post-compulsory mathematics is a longstanding issue of concern in many Western nations, with innumerable efforts to increase their participation producing little impact. In this paper, we shed new light on girls’ underrepresentation through a post-structural feminist investigation of mathematics teachers’ discursive constructions of high-level senior secondary mathematics students. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews with 22 Australian mathematics teachers revealed gendered views that serve to exclude many students from the high-level mathematics student category. Most concerning was their recurring naturalised construction of successful high-level mathematics students as endowed with the right, invariably male, brain. In so doing, teachers repeatedly closed off the possibility of success to those lacking such a ‘mathematics gift’, effectively ‘counting girls out’. We argue that increasing girls’ participation in mathematics requires moving beyond current efforts to raise female interest and confidence to, more profoundly, disrupt enduring discourses of male superiority in mathematics.

中文翻译：

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女生仍被“排除在外”：老师对高水平数学学生的期望

女孩在高水平后义务数学中的代表性不足是许多西方国家长期关注的问题，无数努力提高她们的参与度，但收效甚微。在本文中，我们通过对数学教师对高中数学学生的话语建构的后结构女权主义调查，揭示了女孩代表性不足的问题。我们对 22 位澳大利亚数学教师的半结构化访谈的分析揭示了性别观点，这些观点将许多学生排除在高水平数学学生类别之外。最令人担忧的是，他们反复将成功的高水平数学学生自然化地构建为具有正确的、总是男性的大脑。这样做时，老师们一再为那些缺乏这种“数学天赋”的人关闭成功的可能性，实际上是“把女孩们排除在外”。我们认为，增加女孩对数学的参与需要超越目前提高女性兴趣和信心的努力，更深刻地破坏男性在数学上的优势的持久话语。