How to close gender gaps in education
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A just published report from the OECD-affiliated Program for International Student Assessment entitled “The ABC of Gender Equality in Education: Aptitude, Behavior, Confidence” gives a much-needed update on the status of gender in education today.
Since the 1960s, the average number of years of schooling has been roughly equivalent for men and women in the industrialized world.
This boost in female schooling has spurred growth in many of the world’s most advanced economies.
Yet the fact remains that women earn, on average, fifteen percent less than men.
Moreover, women don’t pursue science and engineering careers as often as men do and have lower self-confidence in these area, despite testing similarly.
Francesca Borgonovi, a PISA Analyst, and education editor Marilyn Achiron, compiled and wrote the PISA findings. To discuss their report further, I invited them to share their perspectives in an interview.
According to Borgonovi and Achiron, young men are significantly more likely than young women to be less engaged with school and have low skills and poor academic achievement.
Meanwhile, the pair explained that in higher education and beyond, young women are under-represented in the fields of mathematics, physical science and computing.
Q: What do you think are the main drivers of these gaps?
Borgonovi and Achiron: For boys, it’s a matter of attitudes and behavior, some of which are shaped by gender stereotypes in society. It’s not “cool” for boys to excel in school.
Girls, even high-achieving girls, are less confident in their abilities in mathematics and science and more anxious towards mathematics.
As such, they are less apt to want to pursue further education in these subjects or to pursue a career in mathematics or science-related fields.
Q: You note that boys spend one hour less per week on homework and play video games more than girls, which leads to poorer academic results. Are there any positive consequences?
Borgonovi and Achiron: Playing video games a moderate amount of time does build digital reading and navigation skills and spatial skills.
Boys, in fact, are better in digital reading (reading on computers) than in paper-based reading (though they still trail girls by a wide margin), probably because they are more comfortable in digital environments.
Q: As stated in your study, girls in some countries have higher PISA mathematics scores than boys. Why among high performing students do girls do worse than boys?
Borgonovi and Achiron: PISA finds that girls are not as good as boys in taking what they’ve learned and applying it in novel situations. Perhaps because of their lower confidence, they are less willing to take risks in their thinking for fear of making a mistake.
Q: Can you please give us your best ideas for reducing the gender gaps?
Borgonovi and Achiron: Train teachers to be aware of their own gender biases.
Teachers generally award girls higher grades than boys. Training teachers to recognize and address any biases they may hold about different groups of students will help them to become more effective teachers.
Also, build girls’ self-confidence. Teachers and parents can provide positive reinforcement for the work girls do well and offer girls opportunities to think like scientists in low-stakes situations, where making mistakes does not have consequences on their marks.
A sizable proportion of both boys and girls appear to be unprepared for further education or career advancement after they succeed in job interviews or in getting a job.
Education systems may well strengthen their career advice and orientation services by forming networks across schools and creating partnerships with local business groups and trade associations, and by inviting parents to offer job-shadowing opportunities and “bring your child to work” programs.
C. M. Rubin is an author and the publisher of CMRubinWorld.
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