Hidden reason why female students get fewer top marks at elite UK universities
New research shows unexpected gap in exam results between male and female students at Oxford and Cambridge. Think-tank suggests biological factors and old-fashioned testing methods as main reasons
A recent think-tank study shows that female students at britainʼs top-two universities dont get as many first-class degrees as their male classmates (a difference of about 8 percentage points)
The Higher Education Policy Institute research points out a weird pattern: while women do better at most UK universities they fall behind at Oxford and Cambridge — where final grades depend mostly on end-of-year exams. The report suggests that pre-menstrual syndrome which affects women for roughly two-weeks monthly plays a big role in this difference
At Cambridge last year Famke Veenstra-Ashmore found that only 22.4% of women got top marks compared to 30.7% of men. The study shows several reasons for this gap:
- Old-style exam-focused testing
- Male students more likely to cram at terms end
- Health issues affecting women during exam periods
- Too many male teachers in some subjects
- Aggressive teaching methods that dont work for everyone
Professor Bhaskar Vira from Cambridge says: “Weʼre looking into why this happens; its not just one thing causing it“. Meanwhile Rose Stephenson points out that these schools have been slow to change — Cambridge didnt even give degrees to women until about 75 years ago
The report asks for big changes in how students get tested; suggesting that spreading out exams and adding more course-work could make things more fair. It also says the schools need to fix their old-fashioned teaching style that might be holding some students back
