Mothers’ Math Anxiety Is Being Passed to Daughters, UK Study by Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty Charity Finds

LONDON, January 13, 2026: A groundbreaking survey has uncovered how mothers may be inadvertently transferring their own mathematical anxieties to their daughters, creating a widening gender confidence gap in the subject.

The research was conducted by The Richmond Project, an education charity founded by former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty. It surveyed 8,000 adults and 2,000 children and revealed troubling patterns in how mathematical confidence develops differently between boys and girls.

The findings were reported in The Sunday Times ahead of the study’s official publication next week.

Gender Gap in Math Confidence Starts Early in Elementary School

The study found that mathematical confidence diverges between genders from a very young age. Among children aged four to eight, 51 percent of boys considered math “easy,” compared with just 41 percent of girls. This gap increases as children grow older.

By ages nine to 18, the disparity becomes stark, with 86 percent of boys reporting confidence in mathematics compared with only 63 percent of girls.

Why Do Women Struggle More with Math Than Men?

Nearly six in ten UK adults demonstrated poor mathematical skills. Among female respondents, 65 percent showed low or very low math competency, compared with 50 percent of males.

Notably, 27 percent of women scored “very low” in number competency, versus just 16 percent of men.

Women were nearly twice as likely as men to feel anxious or overwhelmed when handling numbers. In workplace settings, only 43 percent of women said they enjoyed using numbers, compared with 61 percent of men.

How Parents' Math Anxiety Affects Children's Learning

The research identified a critical transmission point for this anxiety in homework assistance. Only 69 percent of mothers expressed confidence in helping their children with math homework, compared with 83 percent of fathers.

Just 40 percent of women said they enjoy using numbers in general, versus 60 percent of men.

When asked why they lacked confidence, parents most commonly cited that teaching methods today differ from what they learned in school, a reason selected by 29 percent of respondents. This was followed by concerns about teaching their child “the wrong way.”

The Mother-Daughter Math Anxiety Connection

“Women have more anxiety about math than men,” Murty told The Sunday Times. “When a little girl sees her mother nervous or struggling while doing homework, she subconsciously assumes that math is difficult. This fear is then passed down from generation to generation.”

Speaking to the newspaper, Murty said, “Our survey shows that, if they are parents, women tend to struggle more with helping children with their math homework compared to men. And so that goes on and on.”

Breaking the Cycle: How to Reduce Math Anxiety in Children

Murty, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and author Sudha Murty, attributed her own mathematical confidence to strong STEM role models. Her mother trained as an engineer, and she also grew up with aunts who were “science people.”

“Our mission is to make people stop thinking of numbers as just a ‘subject,’” she said. “Whether it’s buying vegetables, checking train timetables, measuring ingredients in a recipe, or splitting a restaurant bill, math is everywhere.”

In her interview, Murty emphasized the need to decode math from an abstract concept into something used in practical ways. She encouraged parents to integrate numeracy into daily life, saying, “We are really passionate about using numbers in day-to-day life, whether that is planning weekly shopping, cooking and recipes, figuring out train or bus timetables, or splitting a bill.”

With her own teenage daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, Murty emphasizes problem-solving through puzzles. “When they were younger, we loved jigsaw puzzles. Now that they’re older, we do everything from Wordle to crossword puzzles,” she told the newspaper. “Math is problem-solving. We tend to love puzzles as a family.”

About the Richmond Project Math Anxiety Study

The full report is scheduled for official publication next week. The research was conducted by Public First in partnership with the Policy Institute at King's College London and Purposeful Ventures, with respondents ranging in age from four to 80 years old.

The Richmond Project, named after Sunak’s North Yorkshire constituency, has announced more than £500,000 in grants to two organizations addressing early barriers to number confidence: Rethink Math and Learning With Parents.

(Rh/VK)