Single-sex schools are more likely to produce high-flying career girls
A study claims that pupils educated within an all-female environment are much more likely to take chances than their co-ed peers If you want your daughter to be a high-flying businesswoman or banker, send her to a single-sex school. This is the startling conclusion drawn from new research charting the complex relationship between gender and risk-taking.
Next month’s edition of the Economic Journal carries the results of an experiment by two economists at the University of Essex. Alison Booth and Patrick Nolen devised a series of questions for 260 male and female pupils that were designed to measure their appetite for risk. The pupils, from eight state single-sex and coeducational schools in Essex and Suffolk, were asked to choose between a real-stakes lottery and a sure bet. Option 1 guaranteed they won £5, while option 2 entered them in a lottery in which they would flip a coin and receive £11 if the coin came up heads or £2 tails. The economists found that, on average, girls were 16% less likely than boys to opt for the lottery. But significantly, they found that girls in co-ed schools were 36% less likely to select the lottery than their male peers.
The findings appear to confirm the long-held view that males have a greater appetite for risk than females and go some way to indicating that this may be down to the environment in which a young person grows up. Girls at single-sex schools were also willing to invest more in a hypothetical risky investment than co-ed female and all-male pupils.
Since my daughter goes to an all girl’s school I was more than pleased to read this report and also not surprised. I think single sex schools are one of the keys to success and there has been so much research done on this; one report even stating that the temperature of the rooms need to be different to get boys and girls to reach their best.
The reason for me sending my girls to single sex schools was that I didn’t want them to fall into stereotypical tutor groups, for example, maths and science is for girls. I wanted them to feel that being a girl meant you could do and be good at anything. I also think that girls require a different type of pastoral care than boys and I wanted them to go to a school that could deliver. And let’s face it, boys are a distraction.
What are your thoughts?
I attended a day mixed school and all girls boarding school and a day boys school with girls in the 6th form. The girls school was AWFUL….I felt a very unbalanced hot housey sort of place….it was boarding so this probably made it worse. I had three brothers so I always knew boys were ordinary and not another species. The day boys school with girls in the 6th form was slighly better but I thought tough for the single sex lower groups. In my view single sex schools are just odd places which attract odd teachers. The ideal school for me is one which tackles gender issues head on. Perhaps I am lucky that we have one of the top state schools in the country a few minutes walk away! But I would not send my chidlren to a single sex school. I think that dealing with distractions are all part of life and ensuring that children aspire a key role of parenting. My 11year old daughter wants to design BMW’s and we are talking to her about engineering! I would also be deeply suspicious of research of the type you describe below- Id like to know the exact methodology used to buy its findings!!!!
Thanks for this Clare and I think it is a difficult subject as everyone has a different view. And yes it is more to do with a good school that a single gender. Just so happens the “best” schools here are single sex. And it isn’t odd with odd teachers
Would be great if they tackled gender issues head on but I think mnay are very bad at that and put people in boxes more.
I went to an all girls school and loved it! Granted the first couple of years I hated it…but looking back it was a great experience that I wouldn’t change for anything. & my closest friends are all from high school! I found this great list of reasons why going to an all girls school is awesome…check it out & see if you agree > http://www.skinnyscoop.com/list/eden/10-reasons-i-loved-going-to-an-all-girls-school
Thanks for your comment and the link