Boys lagging behind: Unpacking gender differences in academic achievement across East Africa

Girls' schooling is important but insufficient to promote equality for boys and girls in childhood and across the life course

“…The evidence suggests that the gender gap—that is the difference in outcomes for men and women, favouring males in educational attainment—has steadily decreased in LMICs (Buhl‐Wiggers et al., 2021; Evans et al., 2019; Grant & Behrman, 2010; Permanyer & Boertien, 2019). Closing the gender gap in schooling is, however, not typically linear.…”

“…The available evidence suggests that once enrolled in school, girls in LMICs “progress through school on pace with or faster than boys and have equal or greater schooling attainment than boys” (Grant & Behrman, 2010). The reasons why girls match or surpass boys in educational attainment in many countries vary, but are thought to include early language advantages; teaching systems that favour girls' learning; family needs and attitudes towards education; changing opportunity costs of schooling, perceived returns to education for girls versus boys, policies and programmes that reward and encourage girls' education; and labour market conditions (Buhl‐Wiggers et al., 2021; Heath & Jayachandran, 2016; UNICEF, 2006). It is noteworthy that there are long‐standing gender gaps favouring boys in enrolment and performance in STEM subjects, not limited to LMICs, although it has been suggested that the gender gap in maths disappears in gender‐equal societies (Dickerson et al., 2015; Guiso et al., 2008; Meinck & Brese, 2019; Ullah et al., 2021).…”

“…Harmful gender norms, and gendered barriers, have shared and distinct impacts on girls' and boys' schooling (Barker et al., 2012; Buhl‐Wiggers et al., 2021; McCleary‐Sills et al., 2015; Psaki et al., 2022; UNICEF, 2006; Welmond & Gregory, 2021). A focus on education for all should not lead to minimizing these differences.…”

Personality Traits, Student-Teacher Relationships and Boys’ Academic Crisis in China: Evidence From the Least Developed Regions

“…There are multiple explanations for gender differences in academic achievement, including genetic endowments and socialization perspectives (Buhl-Wiggers et al, 2021; De Lisle et al, 2005; González de San Román & de la Rica, 2016). Children’s individual non-cognitive characteristics play a critical role in explaining gender differences in educational achievement, such as personality, self-discipline, self-control, etc.…”

“…Gender differences in academic performance have captured researchers' attention due to its implications for individual development and educational equity. After the 1990s, male's academic achievement advantage reversed in many developed countries, and the gender gap in educational achievement was often defined as the outperformance advantage of girls (Legewie & DiPrete, 2012), which was also evident among low and middle income 1 Beijing Normal University, China 2 University of California, Berkeley, USA countries and groups (Breda et al, 2018;Buhl-Wiggers et al, 2021;Kingdon et al, 2017). It was well documented that girls perform better in reading and literacy, boys perform better in STEM (Contini et al, 2017;Meece et al, 2006;Reynolds et al, 2015), while some studies found that boys also experienced a diminishing academic advantage in math (Lindberg et al, 2010;OECD, 2019).…”