ABSTRACT
After the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the academic achievement of girls increased to the point, in the late 1990s, where it exceeded boys’ performance in certain areas. Concerns about the underachievements of boys are the starting pointfor Kate Hirom'sfeminist analysis of gender inequality. Strategies to promote equal opportunities in schooling since 1975 are tested against statistical evidence of an ongoing variety of gender differences – in examination performance (primary to A level), in classroom behaviours, exclusion procedures, provision for special educational needs and literacy. These distinctions are compared with evidence of changing formulations of inequality in society, from the development of ‘masculinities’ and the feminization of schools’ to crime, employment opportunity and the economics of gender differentiation.
