Girls break gender barriers

IRISH girls are leadingEurope in breaking through gender barriers in education – except when it comes to engineering and manufacturing.

The country is among the top three for policies to break down the traditional stereotyping of school subjects and careers.

The trend of boys doing better than girls in maths and science has been reversed thanks to a strong focus being put on everything from the way school books are written to career advice.

The study carried out by the EU into gender equality in education found that in Junior Cert more girls take and get higher level maths.

The number taking higher grade maths drops off in Leaving Cert, but the girls still get better grades than the boys.

The study says this is not reflected in the traditional PISA method of evaluating results between the different countries – because these international tests with their multiple choice items favour boys.

But the gender imbalance returns when Irish students enter third level with just 16% of those in engineering, manufacturing and construction being girls – the lowest in the 29 countries studied. The EU average is 25%.

Female students are also under-represented in science and maths at 40% and in services at 43% in the country.

But they dominate third level courses in health and welfare at 79% and education at 76%, as they do in every other country.

They are down to 65% in humanities and arts and just over the half way mark in social science, business, law, agriculture and veterinary science.