Doorstroom meisjes in hoger ondewijs heeft gevolgen voor de toekomstige arbeidsmarkt (en)

Anna Ekström, Chair of the Committee for Gender Equality in School, Sweden, started off the second day of the conference on Gender Differences in Educational Achievement by observing that the higher grades achieved by girls in school are nothing new.

What is new is that in recent years girls have started to make use of their higher grades to take desirable and traditionally male programmes in higher education rather than just traditionally female programmes, such as nursing or pre-school teaching. This has led to discussion about girls outperforming boys or boys underachieving in school.

Anna Ekström also raised the issue of how women’s dominance in higher education will affect the future labour market. Since the labour market is constantly changing, particularly bearing in mind the increased demographic challenges posed by an ageing population and the need for a more knowledge-intensive labour market, there will be room for both men and women in the future labour market. Ms Ekström therefore did not think this would necessarily mean that ‘newly feminised’ professions will experience a decline in status or that men will be somehow pushed out of the labour market.

Ms Ekström also emphasised that the differences among girls and among boys are much greater than the differences between the two groups. If we constantly stress the differences between girls and boys, there is a risk of reinforcing stereotypical gender roles. “It’s important to see the differences between girls and boys without getting hung up on them.”

Similarly, there is no reason to feel sorry for girls or boys collectively. What we must do is strive to see all children and all pupils in school in terms of their individual abilities and wishes.