Gender differences

Question 1

What are some statistical differences between men and women in terms of subject choice in 1992?

Answer 1

• much less women studying architecture and engineering than other sciences and languages

Question 2

What do the recent gender statistics show with regards to women?

Answer 2

• CEOs male dominated
• more women in clerical and lower-level jobs.
• and therefore, lower paying jobs
• men get an advantage when it comes to the pay gap
• IT, architecture and engineering
• health, hospitality is female dominating (to do with nursing)

Question 3

What sorts of excuses do females give compared to men

Answer 3

• female more likely to give family/personal matters as excuses
• males more likely to give “too much work” as an excuse

Question 4

What did the PISA study show with regards to differences in males and over-representation?

Answer 4

• males better at maths–> men over-represented at the top of the distribution
• females dominate at reading –> men are overrepresented at the bottom of the distribution
• men still over-represented at top and bottom of the distribution

Question 5

Where do boys sit in primary school in maths?

Answer 5

• boys don’t differ in primary school –> the big difference starts later on

Question 6

Are there differences between men and women?

Answer 6

• we know that there are real differences between boys and girls.
• earlier studies tend to report large differences:
• girls were found to be better at verbal ability, particularly verbal fluency, social sciences
• boys were better at maths

Question 7

What are some possible explanations for gender differences in intelligence?

Answer 7

1. cultural and social factors (girls don’t have equal opportunity)
2. neuropsychological differences (differences in anatomy)
   3, boys and girls mature at different rates which can cause differences in achievement
3. hormonal differences
4. personality differences

Question 8

What are the differences between males and females from 1940’s to 1970’s?

Answer 8

From 1940’s to 1970’s:

• males still dominate mechanical and spatial but less
• females still dominate spelling, perceptual speed and language but less.
• verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning and numerical reasoning went from male to female dominated

Question 9

What are some arguments for the suggestion that intelligence tests are bias towards males?

Answer 9

• females relate more to pages of information and males relate more to formulae
• differences in mechanical reasoning are still there

Question 10

What are some biological explanations for sex differences?

Answer 10

• sex- lined gene for spatial ability
• differences in the degree of cerebral lateralization (Ms are more lateralized than Fs)
• hormonal differences

Question 11

What are some possible explanations for differences in math ability between males and females?

Answer 11

• gender differences on some types of tasks exist in samples that are above average in general ability e.g. even though there is a small overall mean difference between m and fs there are greater differences for ms at the higher end of the distribution)