Girls Out-Performing Boys in School

Great Debates
41

I would bet that the ratio has changed a lot, but don’t have any numbers for you. There has been a lot of emphasis over the last 10-15 years on having more girls as heroines, and more diverse characters. Especially in fantasy–in the children’s/youngYA section, you can hardly find anything besides knockoffs and imitations of “Ella Enchanted.” Historical fiction is so often about a spirited young girl who defies the stultifying customs of her time and country that I’m surprised any needlework ever got done back then (and if it’s in the early 1600’s, she’s guaranteed to disguise herself as a boy and wind up in a play with Shakespeare). It’s a new cliche.

The thing is, traditionally (and still), girls would read anything, while boys would only read books about boys. So I do wonder if this new trend will tend to result in fewer boy readers–but oh well, there are lots of books.
Anyway. I wonder if one factor in the “more women are in college, but not in the boardroom” thing is that women may still feel more free to major in whatever they want, without worrying about a high-paying career. A lot of guys major in certain areas because they need or want secure, high-paying jobs. Women may not feel so pressured to do that, and may then major in PACS or Russian history or something equally non-wage-earning. So the women who want to be on the career track do it, but the ones who are more interested in doing something they love (but that pays virtually nil) do that. Whereas the men tend to try to find a career, even if they really like Scandinavian literature. I know that when DangerDad and I were in college (right as the Internet boom was getting started), half of his fellow CS majors were only there because they figured it was the place to be for good jobs.
And finally, Zagadka, thank you for clarifying. I think in these days, very few moms stay home once their kids are grown. My own is now as high-powered as a librarian in a small town can get. (I’m still up for a burrito though. You have to get the carne asada special, split it open, and use the tortilla chips as a fork. mmmmmmm…)

42

I’m skeptical. I know you mentioned that you don’t remember the program, but could you please provide a more reliable citation than memory of a television program?

The last I heard (and this is, admittedly, no stronger a cite than you have provided), the 75% figure comes from totalling the income of all women and comparing it with the income of all men. I haven’t seen anything supporting the claim that women doing the same job with the same amount of seniority as men get paid less.

43

I am willing to buy the 75% figure. BUT, my anecdotal experience is that this is not gender based, but attitude based. The women in my office are far less likely to go to the HR guy and sell themselves for more money. Or try to leave for better money (possibly getting a counter offer where they currently work). I have women come to my cube complaining about their pay everyday (literally), my advice is always, go talk to HR or go work somewhere better. They then hem and haw and eventually do nothing. The men just come to me and say “if I don’t get x ammount raise, I am talking to HR” Sure enough, mot of them do, and they get more. The few women we have that do that, ALSO get more money.