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.

[The Green Goblin]

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

Yes, her husband Robert was a famous composer. As a composer, many consider her to be equal to or better than her husband.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Could be.
But in my travels, I have come across more and more American women who feel their biological clock ticking and are having children after age 30.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert in this area, but I can name three or four women--business acquaintances, who are first time moms in the early to mid 30s. A buyer at one Minneapolis location I call on has two kids under age 5 and she is 41 or 42...

[Paul C. Jesup]

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.

(sarcasm)And the Western World will never prevail with 49% of their population (men) held back.

[Paul C. Jesup]

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.

(sarcasm)And the Western World will never prevail with 49% of their population (men) held back.

[Paul C. Jesup]

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.

(sarcasm)And the Western World will never prevail with 49% of their population (men) held back.

[Clemenza]

Mixed feelings here. On the one hand, I am happy to see you ladies succeeding after being given the shaft for a long time. On the other hand, it also points to the inability of our schools to successfully educate and meet the needs of young boys.

SINGLE SEX EDUCATION NOW!!!

[Clemenza]

Mixed feelings here. On the one hand, I am happy to see you ladies succeeding after being given the shaft for a long time. On the other hand, it also points to the inability of our schools to successfully educate and meet the needs of young boys.

SINGLE SEX EDUCATION NOW!!!

[Clemenza]

You realize you're an alcoholic when you repeat yourself.

You realize you're an alcoholic when you repeat yourself.

You realize, OH DAMN!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

X 3 ?

[Paul C. Jesup]

You're so stone to not realize that this tripple post was caused be a server error on FR's side. At the same time, I could not connect to FR for the last 10 minutes. This has happen to me and others at different times.

[Paul C. Jesup]

It was a server error, see above post.

[bmwcyle]

What Roman said, "If you make them your equal, they will become your masters?"

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Wrong.

Boys have led these studies for decades. Their "biology' was the same then as now...except for the fact they now are loaded with ritalin and other psychotropic drugs.

The lesbian power elite has succeeded in their "achievements" at the expense of boy's mental health, physical well-being, emotional growth and future success.

Anyone with sons in college knows the truth of this.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Why aren't there more teachers like you?

[Lil'freeper]

Name three great female mathematicians.

Maria Agnesi (Analytical Institutions),
Dame Mary Cartwright (Cartwright's Theorem),
Charlotte Angas Scott (An Introductory Account of Certain Modern Ideas and Methods in Plane Analytical Geometry,
and Hypatia of Alexandria (edited On the Conics of Apollonius).

[spodefly]

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...

I see that racism, bigotry, and sexism are not limited to males either.

[Outer Limits]

What I've observed in the work place is big bosses (males)putting females in middle level management positions for lots of well thought out reasons.

I think because they are easier to manage than men.

They are more prone to blindly following orders without asking questions.They are an effective buffer between the real power (big boss male)and the little guy. Generally, women are easier to manipulate than men.They're more willing to be a doormat for the boss work overtime ect..As we all know if you have a complaint against management, its really because you're supervisor is a woman and you're a sexist pig.....

Pretty smart move by management

[Nataku X]

Yes, men are being discriminated against, but discrimination stops being an excuse when you're in high school at the very lastest.

I'm disabled and the teachers fought to put me in a special ed class (they didn't succeed) and they hated to have to teach me. My parents taught me to fight no matter what people think of you, to work 100 times harder than anyone else if that's what it takes to succeed. I got elected student council president in my senior year, despite several teachers telling me outright to not to run, and then graduated college in 3 years. Now I'm presenting my first scientific peer-published paper next week while most of my high school friends are still in college.

Sooner or later you have to take responsibility for your work even if the "system" wants to lock all imperfect kids up & give all the males Ritalin.

I have a lot of male friends, and all of them are stunningly poor students. One of them has a 0.66 GPA and he is lazing by on SSI despite the fact that he is the smartest person I know. My impression is that males just don't take schoolwork seriously, they think a lot of classes are "BS" and don't matter later in life. That's true, unless you're planning on applying to grad school...

[Outer Limits]

My impression is that males just don't take schoolwork seriously, they think a lot of classes are "BS" and don't matter later in life

Like I said, Women are apt to put up with more BS than men.

That may be to women's advantage, but It'll make for a society full of BS.......oops were already there....

[yankeedame]

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

And once you learn to read you can never be a slave, even if you are in chains.