A social trend rarely talked about but IMO of major consequence is the gender gap in education affecting boys. This post will mainly look at the United States, but it's a trend that happens in many other countries to. Also, this post is not an attempt to trivialize the issue of girls access to education around the world, which is a very important issue; the boys education gap is a separate issue however, and discussing one doesn't trivialize the other.

In the U.S, boys earn lower grades in all subjects at all ages. This contributes to the trend of higher rates of dropping out of high school, and lower university attendance- men are a minority of college students.

Evidence shows that this gap is not just happenstance, but in fact due to direct discrepancy of treatment- studies show that boys are given lower grades for the same work. That second link is a detailed analysis from the MIT School of Economics which breaks down data to show an undeniable bias against boys in grading, that can only be explained by directly differential treatment by gender.

IMO, were the genders reversed it would be considered a major issue of inequality, and would be presented as a clear example of sexism and oppression. However, because the gender adversely affected happens to be boys, it goes mostly ignored.

It's logical to link boy's gap in education with the later-life gaps for men; men are behind in nearly every metric of economic wellbeing:

  • more likely to be homeless

  • more likely to be unemployed

  • more likely to be in prison

  • longer prison sentences for the same crime

  • less welfare programs available

This starts with education, when boys start behind for life.