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Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

economist.com

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Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#11

Post by bpodgursky »

endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

I don't know if this is a good faith question, but the big obvious reason you've omitted is that women frequently drop out of the work force (or shift to part-time work) because they want to be directly involved in raising their children.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#12

Post by krisdol »

0xy wrote: post #7
endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

Because women naturally list towards jobs that pay less, and under conditions that pay less (part time, contract work, etc). How many deep sea welders are women? Less than 0.1%. How many oil rig workers are women? Less than 1%. Good deep sea welders earn over $300k.

Hard to live up to the expectation of being a good mother and spending months on an oil rig at the same time.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#13

Post by wizzwizz4 »

0xy wrote: post #7
endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

Because women naturally list towards jobs that pay less, and under conditions that pay less (part time, contract work, etc). How many deep sea welders are women? Less than 0.1%. How many oil rig workers are women? Less than 1%. Good deep sea welders earn over $300k.

Define “naturally”.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#14

Post by kube-system »

endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

There are other familial factors that are often at play. For example, many choose to delay their careers in lieu of raising children. Not all women make this decision, but a sizable number do.

That said, there is likely no single cause for the disparity, there are likely many factors at play at the same time.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#15

Post by MattGaiser »

endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

Depends on how you define top tier jobs.

They are solidly in the majority of students in medicine, law, accounting, etc.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#16

Post by micdr0p »

endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

A suggestion from the article:

> What is behind this discrimination? One possibility is that teachers mark up students who are polite, eager and stay out of fights, all attributes that are more common among girls. In some countries, academic points can even be docked for bad behaviour. Another is that women, who make up eight out of ten primary-school teachers and nearly seven in ten lower-secondary teachers, favour their own sex, just as male bosses have been shown to favour male underlings. In a few places sexism is enshrined in law: Singapore still canes boys, while sparing girls the rod.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#17

Post by carnagecity786 »

endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

I guess it also has to do with the fact that this is a relatively recent change. Probably we'll see the effects of this in future generations of industry demographics, for now though the research and statistics are pretty clear in that women are underrepresented in STEM across the board; but this is something changing rapidly, especially in tech.

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#18

Post by marklubi »

endisneigh wrote: post #2

How is it possible that girls perform better academically (in 2015) yet are under represented in the top tier of jobs? Either women have no interest in money, academic skills have no bearing in getting high paying jobs, or discrimination is more prevalent then you’d think. I suppose all three could be true.

Perhaps a fourth explanation... The vast majority of teachers are female, so maybe their teaching methods are favorable to girls

Re: Girls perform better academically in almost all countries (2015)

#20

Post by f430 »

lower testosterone is beneficial

- less sexual ruminations

- emotional intelligence and organization

- cooperation over leadership

- retains better short and long term memories

- female adult role model is more likely to be available and present

Unfortunately HN is dominated by testosterone driven gender so its impossible to have any sort of civilized discussions about this.

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