In America there is a new mantra that is used to explain gender differences in attitude and ability. It has replaced the “Men are from Mars. Women from Venus” chorus. The new mantra is based on statistical fact. It is: ‘Men are from High School, and women from Grad school’
In the USA the gap in education achievement is widening. In this academic year US colleges awarded 200,000 more degrees to women than men. Studies show that from 1975 to 2001 the number of degrees earned by women jumped by 70% compared with a 5% increase for men. Increasingly women are doing better at school than men.
The phenomenon is worldwide. This week in the UK the schools minister Jim Knight published the latest GCSE statistics – The statistics were based on a breakdown of exam result data first published in August. The Minister said that despite efforts to improve the performance of boys, it was a “deep frustration” that the gap in performance had hardly changed. Whereas 63.2% of girls achieved five good GCSEs this year, only 53.3% of boys did.
In India the same thing occurs. Girls outshine boys in the CBSE. Of the six CBSE zones where examinations were held in March, CBSE officials report that 84.41 percent of girls passed in the exams, whereas the figure for boys stood at 75.93 percent. It is indisputable: everywhere that girls get equal access to education - they do better than boys!
In traditional Indian society it was long recognised that men needed educating, and lots of looking after. The woman’s role was to stay at home and look after everyone - and they were called upon to do everything for their husbands and sons. Now that is changing.
With more and more girls getting an education and entering the workforce, life and competition for the aspiring males in this country is getting increasingly tough. In many instances women have replaced men in the teaching fraternity. This has serious implications for children in school. Women teachers do not have the gender bias against females that is found in many men, and it may be a contributing factor to the upsurge in female achievement.
In India the male child is faced with increasing competition from the massive growth in numbers in the population, but also from the ever-growing numbers of better-qualified girls entering the workforce. As our manufacturing industries become more automated and new ‘soft skilled’ jobs become more numerous, traditional ‘men’s jobs’ decline and opportunities for educated women workers are expanding. Already we are seeing that female achievers are taking many of the new jobs being created.
If our male siblings are to stand a chance in the increasingly competitive world there will need to be a change in the traditional male-centric attitude of many mothers. Modern mothers need to insist that their male children take far more responsibility for themselves throughout their childhood, than many of our mothers did. Our male siblings need to mature faster. Our mothers need to be more demanding of them, and seek the same level of responsibility as they do from their daughters.
