Survey says: Women have overtaken men at every level of education in developed world.

BBC On-Line ^ | Tuesday, 16 September, 2003 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Last Updated: Tuesday, 16 September, 2003, 08:58 GMT 09:58 UK

Girls more confident of success

Women are now much more
likely to go to university than men,

Women have overtaken men at every level of education in developed countries around the world.

And girls are now more confident of getting better-paid, professional jobs than their flagging male counterparts.

International education figures, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, show a consistent picture, across cultures and continents, of women achieving better results than men.

The OECD survey is a detailed comparison of education achievement and spending in 43 developed countries.

The success of girls is a complete reversal of what would have been expected a generation ago, said Andreas Schleicher, head of analysis at the OECD's education directorate.

And he says that the 1990s have seen a remarkable change in women's expectations and achievements.

The survey found that in almost every developed country, 15-year-old girls are more confident than boys about getting high-income jobs.

For example, in the United Kingdom, 63% of girls expect to have "white collar, high-skilled" jobs by the time they are 30, compared to only 51% of boys.

This picture of girls with higher expectations than boys is repeated in the United States, Japan, Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Australia.

University challenge

And girls have good reason to be more confident than boys, because academically, around the globe, they are more successful - which is likely to lead to higher-income jobs.

In literacy skills, 15-year-old girls are ahead of boys in every one of the 43 countries in the OECD survey. In the UK, the gap in literacy scores between girls and boys at this age is 26%.

And this school-age gender gap leads to an increasingly stark difference between the success of male and female students in getting into university.

In New Zealand, 89% of women enter university, compared to 62% of men. In Iceland, 80% of women go into higher education, compared to 42% of men.

In the United Kingdom, the figures for 2001 show that 49% of women entered university, compared to 41% of men.

And Andreas Schleicher says that much of the rapid growth in higher education places and the larger number of students staying in education can be directly attributed to this growing academic success of women.

But why should boys be falling behind, in so many different countries?

Andreas Schleicher says there are "troubling signs" that boys are more susceptible to being put off education by disruptions in their home environment.

Boys seem less able to overcome obstacles to education, he says, whether it is peer group pressure or a lack of family support.

[yankeedame]

No comment (I didn't take my BP Rx yet this a.m.)

[jwalburg]

So can we stop the preferential hiring practices now?

[Steve_Seattle]

And all the while, feminists and the mainstream media assured us that the schools were anti-girl.

[KellyAdmirer]

Women need to do better in school, they are less likely to qualify for and accept jobs that get their hands dirty and don't require advanced degrees in auto shops, plumbing, construction, the military, etc.

[Steve_Seattle]

"But why should boys be falling behind, in so many different countries?"

George Gilder talked about this years ago. A couple of reasons are: (1) girls on the average develop the sensory and motor skills valuable in school a year or two before boys; and (2) boys' biology makes it harder for them to adjust to the extended periods of physical inactivity required by school. They get bored and distracted easier than girls.

[theFIRMbss]

>Survey says: Women have overtaken men at every level of education in developed world

Fine. Good on ya girl!
Does this mean the feminists
will just shut up now?

[Teacher317]

But those differences should have been there from the start. The question is, why are those differences growing so rapidly today when compared to those doifferences measured just 30 years ago.

My answer: Feminist liberal destruction of anything that wasn't overtly pro-female. THe pendulum has swung the other way, and is continuing, with little in sight to slow its progress or even point it out... other than those insignificant 1-percenter right-wing fascists who should be ignored, shouted down, and kept out of the electoral process and mainstream media, of course.

[Diogenesis]

Yesterday, FREED BY THE USA, in Kabul, a young girl learns to read.

[Peach]

Good. Now let's disband NOW.

[boris]

Name three great female composers.
Name three great female scientists.
Name three great female mathematicians.
Name three great female inventors.
Name three great female engineers.

I'll spot you a few:

Composers: Cecile Chaminade
Scientists: Marie Curie
Mathematicians: Sophie Germain

Feminists will argue that women were 'oppressed' and thus could not contribute in times past. Very well; we await the flood of Nobel Prizes in scientific fields for the "XX" chromosome specie.

As I have previously pointed out, women seem to have better luck as interpreters of creative/original work done by males: dancers, singers, teachers. And as writers they are certainly the equal of men.

And please: I am not a misogynist. I love women. Women civilize men. They bring forth new life and nurture it. Maybe these abilities interfere with genius-level creativity; I dunno.

--Boris

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The story doesn't say so, but the conclusion is obvious. The Moslem world will never prevail with 51 percent of their population held back.

[Steve_Seattle]

"But those differences should have been there from the start."

I think the differences were there all along, but didn't become obvious until more girls pursued higher education in the wake of the feminist movement. In the old days, girls might have outperformed boys at the lower levels, but then most got married and didn't pursue higher education. I know when I was a kid a majority of the good students were girls, and that was 40 years ago.

[dangerdoc]

"The story doesn't say so, but the conclusion is obvious. The Moslem world will never prevail with 51 percent of their population held back"

College educated women are much less likely to have children. The muslem world is maximizing reproduction while western countries are losing population. All they have to do is wait the western world out.

[Steve_Seattle]

Another thought: as girls became more serious about education, this probably motivated disadvantaged males to "quit rather than fight," dropping out of school and establishing little enclaves of male power in gangs and such, rather than fight a losing battle against girls in the classroom.

[The Green Goblin]

Name three great female composers

Hildegard von Bingen, Clara Schumann, Cecile Chaminade

[bert]

This is a self dampnening historical development. As they progress, women don't reproduce and their less capable sisters do. The result is a general long term decline and reversion to the normal state for women.

Asbestos on

[Atlas Sneezed]

Hildegard von Bingen, Clara Schumann, Cecile Chaminade

---

I've heard of Schumann. Wasn't she related to a famous composer?

[Ta Wee]

So can we stop the preferential hiring practices now?


30 years in a technical field, and I have yet to benefit from 'preferential' hiring...and I do get my hands dirty. In fact, men leave me the nasty jobs. What princes they.

I think white males are discovering that competition isn't what they thought it was...they might lose. No longer is it enough to have a white skin, male plumbing and a pretty smile to get any kind of job...

[isom35]

how come girls still dont understand football?