Are Same Sex Classes Exacerbating the Female’s Academic Advantage?

In stark contrast to the attention focused on girls’ lack of access to schooling only a few decades ago, many educational observers and advocates are increasingly concerned about “the problem with boys.” This is because girls today perform better in school than boys in many countries around the world –both developed and developing. Scholars have argued that the behavioral expectations of schooling are more in line with female socialization than males, and that females’ higher academic performance is one reason they are completing schooling at higher rates. In fact, in countries such as US, gender segregated schooling is rare – but growing fast, due to perceptions that gender segregation may actually benefit both boys and girls.

In this blog post we look at the case of Palestine, where all schooling above Grade 5 is gender segregated. We show that one of the unintended consequences of gender segregation is that female students are more likely have better quality teachers than their male counterparts – as such, the vast difference in teacher quality is likely an important factor perpetuating girls’ academic advantage in the State of Palestine.

Girls Growing Advantage in Education

In Palestine, female participation in schooling is higher than that of males at all levels of education, and the gender gap widens as students proceed to higher levels. As Table 1 shows, in basic education, the female advantage in gross enrollment rate is only 5.3%. By secondary school, the female advantage in gross enrollment is 20.2%.  

Table 1: Educational Participation, 2011 (%)

Source: Ministry of Education and Higher Education of Palestine (MoEHE)

Boys are not only less likely to attend and complete schooling, they are also performing much worse on international academic assessments. In the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011, Palestinian boys perform significantly worse than girls in both mathematics and science (Table 2). Table 2 shows that the mean score for boys in Chemistry is only 415, compared to 449 for females – a difference of 34 points, equivalent to one third of a standard deviation. 

Table 2: Scores of Palestinian 8th grade students in TIMSS 2011 by subjects and gender

Source: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)

However, Palestine is not alone – many other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that also have gender segregated schooling, find that females’ performance consistently outperform males. In fact, Palestine has only the 4th largest gender disparity in the Middle East and North Africa, after Oman, Bahrain, and Jordan. 

Figure 1: The Gender Gap in Performance in TIMSS in the MENA Region

The Role of Teachers

Although there are various reasons for why females perform higher, the role of teachers and teacher quality has received less attention than that of female socialization and the higher opportunity costs to school for males.

In Palestine, as with many Arab nations, teaching is considered a highly desirable profession for females, but is less desirable for males.  As a result, there is a large gender gap in the competitiveness of the teacher labor market. Table 3 shows the number of applicants and the total number of new teachers hired in the West Bank and Gaza in 2009 and 2010, by gender.

Table 3: Competitiveness to obtain teaching position by regions and genders

Source: Ministry of Education and Higher Education of Palestine

As Table 3 shows, there are many fewer male applicants than females, although the total number of teachers needed is roughly equivalent. Generally speaking, Table 3 suggests that teaching is roughly three times more competitive for females than males. For example, in 2010, only 5% of female applicants to the teaching profession were hired, while 17.5% of males were. This table reflects only the total number of applicants, and does not speak to the relative quality of applicants. In fact, in some regions in Palestine, schools actually have difficulty finding an adequate number of male teachers due to the shortage of qualified applicants.

One reason for this discrepancy is salary. The average salary of teachers and principals is $600-1200, which is relatively modest compared to salaries in other professions. This is important as males are still expected to be the primary breadwinners for their families. Moreover, of those who do enter the profession, many do so as a stepping stone to other career paths – as principals, inspectors or the civil service.

Meanwhile, many more females apply to be teachers than can actually be hired – in fact, in 2009, less than 2% of all female applicants were hired in the Gaza Strip, making those selected likely stellar candidates. For females, teaching is a highly desirable profession because it allows women to balance home and work commitments, while still earning desirable second income for their families. Additionally, due to prevailing cultural norms, career options are more restricted for females than males, meaning there are fewer employers competing for qualified females.

This situation is not unique to Palestine – throughout the world, females tend to dominate the teaching profession – however, in a gender-segregated education system the government must hire the same number of male and female teachers. We have to assume that given the real differences in competitiveness of the profession, female students are getting the benefit of having highly qualified and competent teachers, while male students are less likely to. We know that teacher quality matters in terms of students’ achievement – so the significant difference in terms of the competitiveness of the teaching profession is likely linked to the gender gap in students’ learning achievement.

What are the solutions?

Unfortunately, the problem cannot be solved easily since it is rooted in social norms that govern expectations for both genders. Although one solution is to integrate schools, as is done in some MENA region nations such as Morocco and Tunisia and in private schools in Palestine, this runs counter to prevailing social norms.

Given the fact that the gender-segregated system is likely to remain in place, another solution might be to increase teacher salaries to attract more male teachers. This intervention, however, is likely infeasible given the constraints on the Palestinian education budget.

This leaves us with the possibility of teacher training. If Palestine can offer a variety of effective teacher training programs, particularly those targeted at male teachers who may not see teaching as a long-term career, it may have the double benefits of both improving teacher effectiveness and narrowing the gender gap in teacher quality.