Chapter 4: Beyond the Binary and at the Intersections: Chronicling Contemporary Developments of Gender Equity Research in Mathematics Education

Problematic conflation of the terms gender and sex in mathematics education research has been documented (Damarin & Erchick, 2010). This includes use of the term gender to describe differences in mathematics achievement and participation according to students’ biological sex (namely, being female or male). Such interchangeable use of binary gender terms and theorizations of gender do not take into consideration intersex and gender-nonconforming individuals, thus reifying the idea that there are two distinct biological groups of people (Rubel, 2016). In this chapter, gender is conceptualized as a social construct varyingly produced across individuals and subject to change in different contexts (Butler, 2004; Wilchins, 2004).