A) Most recent researches have revealed that the once widely held belief that men are naturally more intelligent and competent than women, especially when it comes to numeric and computational ability, has no genetic evidence to prove it. It is true that traditionally boys always scored better than girls on mathematics tests, but this has more to do with the fact that the boys had better access than girls of their age to quality education. As a result, this difference in the level and extent of information and instruction that both genders had access to, affected their performance later on.
Surveys have added further credence to this because in countries where the levels of sexual discrimination in education are low or non-existent, the Scandinavian countries are a prime example, the performance of boys and girls in both mathematics and science-related subjects is almost at par.
Despite this prevalent discrimination that prevents girls equal access to quality educational options of their choice, girls today are outperforming boys in almost every grade. This is because realizing that they have to show results that prove their competence and ability, girls end up spending more time doing their homework and completing assignments on time and read more reference books; all of this translates into better performance in class tests and examinations which continues up to the college and university level.
Boys on the other hand, are more likely to spend time outdoors or on the internet playing games, time that should have been utilised for schoolwork. Also the fact that boys, when in a group, are often led to believe that studying for examinations or taking their studies seriously makes them ‘nerdy and uncool’, does not help the situation .
In addition to parents, teachers and tutors setting more strict ground rules for studying for boys compared to girls, it is also important to let boys read things that they enjoy. This is because they respond better to following instructions, if they feel that they are being allowed to do activities that they consider more fun and less educational.
B) Despite these research findings, in many countries the gender bias still influences the educational and career choices girls make, or sometimes, are forced to make. When choosing majors in high school for instance, in developing countries, girls are always expected to take up Arts, Humanities or Home Economics, while boys end up opting for Additional Mathematics, Science and Computers as their focal subjects. This forced selection is based on the societal opinion that since girls will be staying at home and taking care of the family, they have no need to acquire learning about how the human brain functions or excel at numbers; the latter two are areas of men’s expertise.
Interestingly, even in families and cultures that believe themselves to be evolved enough so to provide a level educational field for boys and girls, the inherent bias still comes through. For instance, while girls in countries like Pakistan and India are often encouraged to opt for biology as a major and pursue a medical degree, they are strictly discouraged from choosing engineering as a career, as it often involves outdoor work which is not considered appropriate for females.
A prevalent educational system that was believed to be highly effective and more importantly, moralistic, was that of gender-segregated schooling. The idea was that women will never be able to excel over men if they are put in the same class . Moreover, it was believed that women, being the weaker sex, would end up having physical relations at a very early age and be ‘spoilt’ and ‘lost’ forever.
However, through his article, author Tamar Lewin, using various researches as the basis, proved that people who spend their adolescence in single-sex environments, grow up with pronounced gender stereotypes. Boys tend to become more aggressive, while girls perceive their potential to be limited to what they are ‘expected to do’ and never feel the need to push their boundaries, try new subjects or experiment to acquire new learning.
Works Cited
Evans, Mark. "Why girls do better at school than boys." 5 March 2015. The Economist. Online. 1 April 2016.
Lewin, Tamar. "Single-Sex Education Is Assailed in Report." 11 September 2011. New York Times. 1 April 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/education/23single.html.
