Educational attainment and achievement has increased significantly among both men and women in industrialised countries over many years. At the same time, an increasing gender gap in education has developed in favour of women (OECD, 2015). The gender gap in education now represents a societal challenge in many industrialised countries. The causes are not known and under-researched, and there has been limited attention to potential policies for decreasing the gap.
Girls enter puberty earlier than boys, and by age 15 to 16 the gender difference in maturity reaches a peak (Mustanski et al, 2004). At this age, adolescents graduate from lower secondary education and in many European countries (including the UK and in the Nordic region), it coincides with important decisions regarding their future. The opportunities available to individuals depend heavily on their grade scores from lower secondary school. An important question to ask is therefore whether and to what extent the “biological head start” of girls explains their educational outperformance of boys.