Gender and Achievement: Some Facts

Differences in educational achievement in gender terms are more difficult to pin-point than those related to social class. There is, for example, little clear evidence to show that females, as a whole,  underachieve intellectually at school (in terms of GCSE overall, for example, the levels of achievement between males and females are roughly equal, although in recent years there is evidence to suggest that females are achieving more than males across an increasing range of subjects).

In addition, the evidence since the 2nd World War suggests that female educational achievement at the secondary level has increased markedly in comparison to male achievement. At the primary level male and female levels of achievement are, in general, roughly equal, although males tend to score more highly on some forms of testing.

If this (secondary) trend continues it is evident that females will overtake males at all levels of the education system and, arguably, in all types of subject.

However, clear gender differences emerge in relation to various aspects of our education system.

In Higher Education, for example, there are slightly fewer women than men, although the fact that approximately twice as many men as women achieve first degrees is significant. It suggests that many women in Higher Education are enrolled on non-degree courses (such as Nursing diplomas). At post-graduate degree level the sex imbalance is marked, with substantially fewer women than men studying at this level. 

It is also noticeable that differentiation by subject is much in evidence, with the trend, begun at A-level, for men to be over-represented in science and technology degrees.

In Further Education the situation is largely reversed, with many more women than men studying at this level. It is also significant, as Heidi Mirza has noted, that, in the 1990's, black women (African, Afro-Caribbean and Asian) are the single largest social group in post-16, non-degree, education. In part, the vocational opportunities for clerical and caring professions at this level may partly explain greater female involvement, although in the case of many black women it is evident that their involvement in Further Education may be explained by their relative lack of success in (largely white) secondary education.

As suggested above, one area in which there is fairly marked gender differences is in the subjects choice of males and females.

In basic terms, the curriculum (especially post-16) shows evidence of subject gendering, whereby certain subjects have a masculine association (Physics, Chemistry and Maths, for example), other subjects have a feminine association (sociology, psychology and biology, for example) and a third group have a neutral association (that is, they are seen as neither masculine nor feminine by students).

The introduction of a National Curriculum in 1990 may partly explain why the subject gendering pre-16 that was so marked in the past (with girls generally avoiding science and technology subjects and boys avoiding subjects such as modern language, home economics and the like) is less likely to appear at this level (Maths at GCSE level, for example, is a compulsory subject for all students).

Social class:

Middle class women are far more successful than working class women