COMPARE THE HYSTERIA OF THE GENDER PAY GAP WITH THE SILENCE ON THE GENDER EDUCATION GAP

Figures and analysis published by the Higher Education Policy Institute  shows that whilst 49% of girls are going onto university only 38% of men are.

The Gender Education Gap has been much commented upon on this site as all indicators show that at least two generations of boys have performed worse than girls, so much so, that GCSE/A-level results are seven years behind those of girls.

In addition, the site has long stated that a big part of the problem has been the feminisation of education which stemmed from the scrapping of exam based O-levels in 1998 with course-based GCSEs, more suited to female learning.

This point was made by the Institute's Bahram Bekhradnia in an article in The Guardian who said the exams are the "most likely cause" of an achievement gap between the sexes that starts at school but carries on into adulthood. The result is that men are less likely to go to university and less likely to do well when they get there.

However, the silence is deafening from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission who run to the cameras or the press to profess their anger about any statistic which may suggest that women are behind men on some issues. Also where is the Government who Gordon Brown said was if it was not about fairness, then it stood for nothing.

The Government, the Equalities Commission, The Minister for Equalities (Harriett Harman) and the Fawcett Society have dominated the airwaves for years on the gender pay gap and the new equalities bill. They cannot shout loud enough but there is nothing on the fact that boys are languishing behind girls at education. It only matters if it is the other way round.

Their silence is deafening and shows how sexist against boys/men these organisations truly are. If girls were underperforming boys in the same way, you would never hear the end of it.

Other coverage - The Guardian, BBC, The Times 1, Times 2, Daily Telegraph

Comments

[Pierce Harlan]

When girls lagged behind boys in most indicia of educational achievement, we were told, "there must be something wrong with the school system."

Now that boys are behind, we are told, "there must be something wrong with the boys."

When girls were behind boys in school, having them achieve equality was deemed an important end in and of itself, something essential for a free and civilized society.

Now that boys are behind, none of that matters -- because, we are told, the boys' mommies still lag behind their daddies in wages.

You see, perceived gender victimization is a moving target. Every cited instance of alleged oppression is an excuse to allow a small but powerful group of angry women to vent, to fume, and to express envy that they weren't born male.

If the wage gap somehow disappeared overnight, they would find some other reason to wallow in their tar pit of victimization.

[Groan]

There is a whole industry devoted to ensuring this "victimization". The figures for education,health,housing and redundacies are all there. Public bodies are duty bound (the Gender Equality Duty) to consider boys and men's needs. The problem is that the agencies don't see such facts unless people constantly prod them.