Girls do better at school than boys, that is the current trend. But then they give up their lead – at least in the field of work. How did that happen? The numbers prove it: girls are overtaking boys on all sides. At secondary school, boys in HAVO and VWO are underrepresented. Moreover, they more often drop to a lower level, while girls more often move to a higher level. Girls also do better than boys in further education; they obtain their diploma more often and faster in MBO, HBO and WO, according to research by the Education Inspectorate. Not that girls are smarter than boys. According to British researcher Richard Lynn, the IQ of boys is on average five points higher than that of girls. According to Lynn, geniuses with an IQ higher than 155 are five times as likely to be male as female. According to a report from the University of Maastricht, the explanation for the better female educational performance lies in the structure and content of secondary education. This has changed so much in recent years that girls are doing better than boys. Girls are stronger in language and because more language is used in today’s education, the teaching material has become easier for girls and more difficult for boys. Furthermore, a lot of independence is expected in secondary education. Let this be something that suits girls better. Immigrant girls are also doing well. They are catching up with their mothers, who did not study. If you compare the career choices of girls with those of boys, girls often choose jobs in government, education or healthcare. An excellent choice, because these are professions that are less affected by the crisis. Unemployment among young women (15-26 years) is therefore lower than among male peers, namely 7.1% compared to 8.2%.
Girls are braver
So much for the good news. Because no matter how promising it looks for girls, as soon as they get into a relationship and become a mother, men surpass them. The advancement of women to high positions is lagging behind expectations. This also applies to economic independence. Roos Vonk is professor of social psychology at Radboud University Nijmegen and author of The first impression. She finds it very understandable that boys who have run out of steam and become men work harder on their careers than women: ,In general, girls are more serious than boys. They like to do their homework well and are less looking for fun. They are better at ,They think about the long term. Their motivation for studying faithfully is not that they want to be at the top of a multinational later. They are brave and want to develop themselves. That is actually a nicer motivation than the urge to one day end up high somewhere.,
Preferably not the boss
No matter how beautiful the youthful pursuit of self-development is, it does not take women far. In the field of work then. Despite the fact that girls do so well at school, only 52% of women aged 20-64 manage to convert this into economic independence. For men this is 74%. The difference can partly be explained by the high part-time percentage. Three quarters of employed women work part-time. In 2011, women worked an average of 26.4 hours per week, men 38.2 hours. ,Men enjoy working hard, achieving success and going to the pub after work to network,, says Roos Vonk. ,They like competition and winning. This has to do with testosterone, the hormone that men have 5 to 25 times more of than women. Testosterone promotes the urge to acquire status and dominate. That is why men are more motivated to work hard to work and move up. Women have this less. They are looking for connection and regard their colleagues as a kind of family with whom they like to have a good time. They prefer not to be the boss, because then they no longer belong .’
Suffering from stereotypes
Another hurdle women face is stereotypes. Roos Vonk: ,Certain behavior is considered more extreme in a woman than in a man. If she is confident, she is overconfident, and assertive is considered aggressive. This means that a woman is at a disadvantage. She is more at risk of not being liked when she portrays herself as capable and ambitious. And if you are not liked, your favorability factor is lower. And you need that to move up., Women with children are also confronted with the difficult question of how to combine a family with a career. Of course, caring for children is not an issue that only concerns women, but men are less concerned about it. Fortunately, nowadays no one dares to say that a woman belongs at home, but traditional gender roles are persistent. The 2012 Emancipation Monitor of the Social and Cultural Planning Office for Statistics shows that although most women and men are in favor of an equal division of tasks, this is unequal in practice. Most couples agree that women are more adept at housework and childcare, so mothers often give up workdays.
More self-confidence In June, Minister Kamp of Social Affairs wrote to the House of Representatives that despite cuts in childcare, mothers have not started working less. Why is nothing mentioned here about fathers? The idea that childcare is a woman’s job crept in a long time ago. For example, in and around the Second World War, Dutch women were the only ones in the Western world who did not take over men’s jobs, which did happen in America, England and the Scandinavian countries. So it is our Dutch attitude that holds mothers back. Back to the girls of today. How do we get them to realize their childhood dreams and not be distracted by relationships, family and old gender roles? Bianca Boender, director of the You!nG Foundation, develops methods for professionals, volunteers and parents to encourage girls to develop their talents and capacities. According to Bianca, a girl can only realize her ambition if she is encouraged by those around her. ,We live in a tough society with a shortage of work,, she says. ,Girls are naturally insecure about themselves. In order to make it, they need to continue to believe in themselves. Parents can help with that. It is important that a girl learns that she is unique during her upbringing. In order to be able to work with her talents, she needs to feel valuable. She needs to know that she can do it. In addition, it is important that the possibilities of girls are put at the center and not their shortcomings. This will give them more self-confidence If they succeed, they have a better chance of completing their education and being financially independent later.,
Mother as role model
According to Bianca Boender, today’s adult women have the task of being a support and role model for girls in their environment. This is supported by the survey ‘How emancipated are young women?’, which was commissioned by the monthly magazine Opzij and conducted among young women between the ages of 18 and 25. This shows that career, financial independence and personal development are considerably more important for daughters of a mother who has always worked than for daughters of stay-at-home mothers. If their own mother worked, they are less likely to be willing to fully adapt their lives to parenthood. In short: everything indicates that the upcoming generation of women is looking forward to it. Girls have the future, but it is up to today’s women to set a good example.