New Report Finds a Gender Gap in the Numeracy Skills of Adults in the United States

The U.S. Department of Education reports that there is no gender gap between men and women in literacy rates in the United States. But men hold an edge over women in numeracy skills.

According to definitions from the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies, literacy is “the ability to read, understand, and use written text in a variety of life situations.” Numeracy is defined as “the ability to understand and use mathematical information in a variety of life situations.”

Men had higher numeracy scores than women at all age groups. The smallest gender gap was those in the 16-24 age group and the largest gap was for those over the age of 55. The numeracy rate of men was higher than that of women at all levels of education. The largest gender gap was for men and women who held a college degree.