The shirt, created by Australian label Lioness, has raised questions about the deep-rooted messages girls receive about who mathematics is for.
Research suggests girls receive signals from family and the community that it is OK – and even desirable – not to be “a maths person”. On the other hand, boys are more likely to have their mathematical potential recognised and encouraged.
For decades, research has consistently shown girls are just as capable of succeeding in maths as boys.
We know Australian girls are less likely to enrol in advanced mathematics subjects (which include calculus and prepares students for tertiary study) in years 11 and 12. As of 2025, only 36.5% of higher mathematics students were female.
In the 2025 NAPLAN tests, 14.4% of Year 9 boys achieved the top level in numeracy compared to 9.2% of girls.
If the issue is not ability, what is driving these participation differences?
Studies suggest the biggest causes of girls opting out of maths are differences in how girls’ perceive their own mathematical ability and their lower interest in the subject.
In short, girls see themselves as less capable, even when they have the same actual maths ability as their male classmates. They are also less interested in maths.
Another concerning message from the t-shirt is what girls are taught to value in themselves.
There is an implication that physical beauty can compensate for, or even replace, difficult intellectual work. In this framing, beauty becomes a form of exemption. This encourages girls to believe their worth lies in external standards of appearance instead of in their capacities and interests.
The phrase “too pretty to do math” suggests girls must choose between being feminine and being mathematically capable – of course they do not. The problem has never been girls’ ability to do maths. It is that too often society fails to tell them they can.
Source: ‘Too pretty to do math’? Here’s the real reason girls aren’t choosing to study maths