The rise of women

I went to a very strong public high school in northern California. I was a good student, but it was apparent at the time that there was another level of good above me, and that level was typically filled with girls. In our college admissions results in my senior year, for instance, there were five commits to Stanford University, the top ranking university in our area and on the West Coast, and all attendees were girls. At the time, I didn’t make much of it, I just thought it was a fluke, but I think that outcome in 2007 was the beginning and a snapshot of a larger and continuing trend of women outdoing men in educational attainment.

Now, I personally see myself as a progressive thinker, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with women attaining education. From an innovation and, perhaps economic perspective, I think educating the other half of our population and having them enter the workforce is a great thing. The female brain is just as capable as–but perhaps a bit different than–the male brain. However, where we are seeing potential problems is the erosion of traditional gender roles in which men and women are beginning to shift hierarchical positions at school, in the workforce, and at home. The rate at which women are overtaking men in school within our society has outpaced the conservative end’s ability to adjust to this new reality, and this is resulting in a lot of friction between major groups in the US.

Then there’s the question of fairness. Currently, the explanation of why women are outperforming men in school is that the female brain tends to mature a bit earlier than the male brain. We know from a biological perspective that the brain develops well into the mid-twenties for the average, healthy individual. That’s a biological advantage women have in high school, college, and graduate school. These are critical periods of educational attainment and professional development. Additionally, from my personal experience, and I believe this is backed by research, women and girls have an easier time learning language. It’s been shown time and time again that, on average, girls spend more time communicating, engaging with language (e.g. reading, journaling, etc…), and are quicker in picking up foreign languages compared to their male counterparts.

Women and girls have proven that they can succeed and even outdo men and boys in an education system that was conceived to educate men. It would be interesting to see how this system adapts in the future because I think there are consequences–both good and bad depending how you want to look at it–with a sex imbalance in educational attainment. After all, the end goal should be equality in school, at work, and at home.