eSJayBee
09-12-2004, 10:11 AM
Females 'work harder for degrees'
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38917000/jpg/_38917001_grads203.jpg
source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3642260.stm)
Female undergraduates work harder and are more open-minded than males, helping a higher proportion than men to get good marks in their degrees.
Those are the findings of a new study by British psychologists who probed the reasons why more women than men get degrees of 2:1 or above.
However, they found support for the observation that a higher proportion of men obtain first class degrees.
The results were presented at the BA Festival of Science in Exeter.
They confirm females are under-represented in so-called "hard science" degrees, but these are the subjects with a disproportionately high number of firsts.
So while women will generally tend to get more "good" degrees because they apply themselves more, men will get more "top" degrees because five times more of them will do computer studies or some other difficult course.
"If you take out those students taking hard science subjects there is no gender gap favouring men," said Dr Tom Farsides of the University of Sussex.
"The gender gap favouring women seemed to be superior academic qualities, and the gender gap favouring men seemed to be because men tended to study hard science subjects to a greater extent."
The data comes from a study in which 1,200 undergraduates were asked to complete a battery of psychological questionnaires.
Their academic achievement and behaviour in relation to their studies was tracked over three years.
How hard the students applied themselves was measured by their attendance at seminars and how many pieces of coursework they submitted which did not count towards their degree.
"Application was far and away the strongest and most reliable indicator of academic performance," Dr Farsides said.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38917000/jpg/_38917001_grads203.jpg
source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3642260.stm)
Female undergraduates work harder and are more open-minded than males, helping a higher proportion than men to get good marks in their degrees.
Those are the findings of a new study by British psychologists who probed the reasons why more women than men get degrees of 2:1 or above.
However, they found support for the observation that a higher proportion of men obtain first class degrees.
The results were presented at the BA Festival of Science in Exeter.
They confirm females are under-represented in so-called "hard science" degrees, but these are the subjects with a disproportionately high number of firsts.
So while women will generally tend to get more "good" degrees because they apply themselves more, men will get more "top" degrees because five times more of them will do computer studies or some other difficult course.
"If you take out those students taking hard science subjects there is no gender gap favouring men," said Dr Tom Farsides of the University of Sussex.
"The gender gap favouring women seemed to be superior academic qualities, and the gender gap favouring men seemed to be because men tended to study hard science subjects to a greater extent."
The data comes from a study in which 1,200 undergraduates were asked to complete a battery of psychological questionnaires.
Their academic achievement and behaviour in relation to their studies was tracked over three years.
How hard the students applied themselves was measured by their attendance at seminars and how many pieces of coursework they submitted which did not count towards their degree.
"Application was far and away the strongest and most reliable indicator of academic performance," Dr Farsides said.