Another look at the degree results of men and women

Abstract

This paper starts with a critical examination of the claims made in a recent paper by Ernest Rudd (1984) on the relative performance of men and women at degree level, and proceeds to evaluate Rudd's explanation of performance differentials before finally concluding that the most fruitful explanations are likely to be in terms of discriminatory social and institutional pressures. The first part of the paper shows that Rudd overestimates the tendency for men to achieve a disproportionate number of first and third class degrees, and that he fails to pay sufficient attention to the marked differences in performance in different subjects or to the changes in relative performance over time. The second part of the paper reassesses Rudd's explanation of the differences in performance at the first and third class levels, and rejects his suggestion that the differences can be explained by differences in measured intelligence, although some of the difference can be accounted for by differences in A level scores. The third part of the paper looks at the differences in overall performance between men and women in different subjects, concluding that social pressures are the most important factor in determining performance differentials.