Female Supremacy Articles - Page 29

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This week, a report by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) has once again documented the relentless rise of girls in the educational stakes. Females now outperform males on just about every higher education indicator, at every university in the land (with the exception of Oxbridge entry, where the sexes remain tied), and in most degree subjects.

The impact of disadvantage on educational opportunities is the primary concern of the Sutton Trust. But the educational gender gap has also emerged as a worrying trend. Female pupils outnumber males two-to-one, for example, on our university summer schools, the week-long visits to encourage more non-privileged students to consider elite research universities. Our annual surveys of 11- to 16-year-olds, meanwhile, show that boys consistently lag behind girls in their aspirations to go onto higher education.

As is often the case in education, such trends reflect inequalities set in train early in life. Girls are already on average two months ahead of boys at the start of primary school. The lack of male role models in these formative years is striking. Studies show that mothers, not fathers, are much more likely to read to their children in the home. Most of the teacher common rooms in our primary schools meanwhile remain male-free zones.