Why do girls perform better than boys in exams?

IN THE North East, girls are outperforming boys at every stage in the educational system including most subjects at GCSE. In Newcastle in 2015, 61 per cent achieved five or more GCSE passes at grade A*-C compared to 50 per cent of young men. Across the UK in 2016 the gender gap has widened slightly with 71 per cent of girls entries awarded At least a grade C, compared with 62 per cent of boys.

A higher number of women stay on at school or college. They are more likely to get three top A-level passes too. This year more women have been accepted for university than men. Six out 10 graduates today are women. In 1979, seven out of 10 graduates were men!

So why do females do better than males? One factor has been the impact of feminist ideas. The advent of ‘second wave feminism’ in the Seventies led to success in improving the legal rights of women such as the Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Act 1975. This boosted the expectations and self-esteem of women. They have also challenged the traditional stereotype of women’s roles as carers. For sociologists like Ann Oakley more women in the second decade of the 21st Century look beyond the 1950s role of ‘housewife’ and aspire to higher education, careers and autonomy.

For some educationists, greater emphasis on equal opportunities in the classroom has had an impact in enabling girls to fulfil their potential easily. Policies such as monitoring learning materials for sex bias to help schools meet the needs of girls as well as diversity in the curriculum, has contributed to their success. Most teachers are sensitive about avoiding gender stereotyping in the classroom. And big changes in the knowledge and service economy in the region has led to more job opportunities for women.

Yet women still do different subjects to men from 16. Girls are more likely to study arts subjects like English, foreign languages and sociology at A-level and health and social care at Btec level. Engineering, technology and science courses are male dominated. How come. Some social scientists put it down to parental upbringing, or ‘gender role socialisation’. From an early age, girls and boys play with different toys and do separate activities in the home: boys playing with laptops and girls playing with dolls is till the cultural norm in many Northern households.

Often kids see their parents fulfilling different roles. True, more younger men than ever before are doing more in the house such as domestic tasks and child care. But it’s still the women who carry out the lion’s share of chores, caring and ‘emotional work’, while working in paid jobs – what is known as the ‘triple shift’.

Most men of all social backgrounds see their primary role as the breadwinner. This may discourage girls from a commitment to scientific subjects at 16. The business lobby, the CBI, have noted that many careers advisors are still steering girls from technological subjects, reflecting their own experiences. Boy still dominate labs, grabbing equipment first and butting in. This undermines girls’ confidence.

More women are entering traditional male-dominated professions like law, medicine and dentistry. A significant minority have made it to the top. Yet many more are failing to break through the ‘glass ceiling’ when it comes to the top jobs in politics, business and the media. Only 24 per cent of British MPs are women, one third of councillors and the region’s boardrooms are still male dominated .It’s still the blokes who pull the strings and run the show. For Owen Jones, Britain’s ‘Establishment’ remains monopolised by white middle-class men with a private school and Oxbridge background. When it comes to pay women are paid less than men especially after they become mothers, according to the independent IFS.

It’s premature for some writers to infer that the future is becoming female. It’s still a ‘Mans World’ in 2016. The glass ceiling hasn’t broken, but has fractured. If women are to break into the top jobs, we need to re-affirm family friendly, work-balance policies, stamp out discrimination based on pregnancy, and challenge ‘institutionalised sexism’ which still permeates finance and banking. Successful women need to be promoted as ‘positive role models’.

Likewise many bosses need to wise up to the fact than many men in their thirties are becoming more child-centred and don’t want to work long hours. People need to work smarter not harder. Overall, a huge cultural shift is required if we’re to achieve gender equality both at the workplace and in domestic sphere.