Question 1: Why do girls get better grades than the boys?
Monday June 05 2006
Ireland's teens are revving up for the biggest test of their lives. The Leaving Cert starts next Wednesday and, if current trends continue, Ireland's girls will do much, much better than the boys.
New figures show that 62pc of sixth years achieving more than 450 points in the Leaving Certificate are girls; they dominate the very highest levels too, making up 62pc of those with 551 to 600 points. Boys, meanwhile, have taken prime position at the lower end of the scale.
But why is this? Are women just naturally brighter? Gerry McNamara head of the school of education studies at DCU, feels that is has to do with girl's maturity, and with their willingness to study.
"It isn't just an Irish problem; we see it all round the western world," he says. "And it's a reversal of the trends we saw 25 and 30 years ago. Then, the worry was that girls were being discriminated against due to stereotyping. We worried about the small numbers of girls doing honours maths. Girls were less likely to go into science or the high-performing professions.
"Measures that have been taken since then to encourage girls, along with social changes, have evened the playing field. The problem, now, is that girls are winning the game.
"Girls are more willing to sit still and listen to the more boring aspects of education," he says. "Research shows that they study more than boys too. In general they have fewer outside interests and play less sport. They don't hang around the streets as much as boys do either. They are more inclined to read and are less hostile to school."
The exam itself may discriminate against boys. Whilst girls do better in academic surroundings, boys excel when they are given a specific task, like a project.
Once they get to college things even out a little; because, with luck, boys are studying a subject that interests them. Yet here, too, girls are doing better with each year that passes.
Back in 1998, when commentators were already worried about girls outperforming boys, 55pc of students gaining primary degrees from HEA-funded institutions were female.
In 2003, the percentage had shot up to 59pc - a percentage rise of 14pc.
If women are doing so much better than men, why aren't we seeing more women at the top of our professions and businesses? After all, there is a huge push on to persuade women to keep working after they've had children.
Maria Cronin, director of EU and social policy at IBEC feels that they take time out for practical reasons. They can't get adequate childcare, or get fed up with their difficult commute.
"And where women take a career break, it has a huge impact on their future careers," she says.
However, she predicts that we will see changes when the current crop of high-flying students establish themselves in their careers.
"Although the exam performances of girls have been stronger for quite some time, the change in their participation rate at work has only really happened in the last 10 years.
"The highest participation rates are for women in the 25 to 30 age group, and the population peeks with those who are now 20 to 25. The key will be what choices those women will make when they get into their 30s.
'We are in for some very interesting times," Cronin predicts. "Because traditionally women were likely to be the lower earner and now that is less likely to be the case."
Rowan Manahan, managing director of Fortify, a Dublin-based career management service, isn't so sure that women will take over at the top. He thinks we're too sensible to bother.
"Women have more perspective and balance than men do," he says. "They will look at what goes on in a boardroom and think, 'that is stupid. I do not want that; it is not worth it.' Men will compete for competition's sake. They think, 'if there is another promotion I can get I should go for it, whether I actually want it or need it.'
And it's all to do with the different ways the sexes learn, he feels.
"Boys and girls have different reasons for learning. With boys, it is all about competition; about beating others and who gets that gold star. And that starts in junior infants.
"Girls come to that competitive level later, and then dismiss it. They are interested in the gold standard and how they compare to that. Boys are only interested in beating other people."
