Why do women perform better at school, but men are ahead in the workplace?

Are you content in your vocation? Do you feel that progression up the slippery career ladder is stalling? Well, there’s no denying that when it comes to professional advancement in many sectors, women don’t do as well as men.

After being appointed the UK’s first female chancellor in July, Rachel Reeves posted on X: “To every young girl and woman reading this, let today show that there should be no limits on your ambitions.”

However, it is well documented that women’s career advancement often stalls in their late 20s and early 30s, and those starting in low-paying jobs typically don’t progress as quickly as men. On average, UK women earn 90p for every £1 earned by men, despite similar qualifications and experience.

It’s not all bad news, however. Progress is evident in the rise of women starting and leading businesses, but disparities remain. As of 2023, only nine per cent of FTSE 100 CEOs were women, a slight increase from the previous year. Women also lag behind in higher-ranking positions across many industries and sectors. And, despite a record rise in the number of female MPs elected this July, achieving a 50:50 split in Parliament remains elusive.

In my sector, education, women make up 76 per cent of the teaching workforce but hold only 69 per cent of leadership roles. Healthcare shows a similar trend, with female representation decreasing at higher levels of seniority.

As a female leader – albeit of a small Christian charity – and the mum of a girl, I find the differences between the sexes concerning. On the face of it, it appears that women are overlooked, and their skills discounted in comparison to men in the world of work. 

Excelling within education

What’s particularly confusing is that when it comes to education, girls do better than boys in almost every subject throughout primary and secondary level. Boys have historically underperformed compared with girls, and, although 2023’s GCSE attainment gap between girls and boys narrowed to its smallest in 14 years, there’s still quite a difference: 24.9 per cent of girls got a grade 7 (the equivalent to an A), while only 19.1 per cent of boys did. And it’s not just GCSEs; in primary school, 63 per cent of girls met the expected standard in English reading and writing, compared to 56 per cent of boys. In Maths the differences were more marginal. 

As a former secondary English teacher, I often observed differences in boys’ and girls’ work. It was particularly notable in their extended writing. In general, girls demonstrated greater focus, conscientiousness and a stronger desire to create beautiful pieces of writing. But I’m not convinced girls were simply ‘better’ at the subject or more talented writers. I think something more complex was at play.

Curious about the statistics, I asked my network of teachers from the Association of Christian Teachers about their students’ attainment, attitudes and any gender differences.

Sure enough, there was general agreement with the attainment trend. Perhaps more interestingly, they reported a marked difference in attitude. Teachers observed that girls tend to be “more conscientious, and more inclined to put in the work,” and often have a “desire to please the teacher”. They noted that “girls care more about presentation” and “take all assessments more seriously”. In contrast, boys were seen as “lacking confidence to work hard” and having “less of a desire to succeed academically”. One teacher mentioned: “boys tend to do the bare minimum but then work really effectively when it matters (ie exams)”. Another highlighted that “girls are typically better organised, more conscientious and more thorough”. However, attitudes did vary, as one teacher pointed out: “it varies from cohort to cohort, group to group”.

What’s going wrong?

So, if girls are conscientious and hardworking, generally perform better in academia and formal education, what is going wrong for them as they grow older? Do pay and ‘success’ disparities indicate the worrying existence of biases, discrimination and structural inequalities in the workplace? And should this concern us?

Inequality As Christians, any kind of inequality should concern us. Every time we pray, as Jesus taught: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10), we don’t just pray for wars to cease and the hungry to be fed. It means a full restoration of the dignity of every individual made in the image of God and for the sexes to work in harmony towards a common goal.

UK women earn 90p for every £1 earned by men

And Genesis makes it clear that men and women are indeed equal in worth and dignity. Both were made in God’s image, given dominion over the earth and God spoke to and blessed both (Genesis 1:26-28). Men and women are created primarily to have a relationship with God and are both entrusted with the stewardship of creation. 

Jesus echoes the teaching of Genesis in Matthew 19, stating: “at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’” (v4). God deliberately created men and women as distinct genders. While they share similarities as beings made in God’s image, they aren’t identical or interchangeable. They are different – and this is good!

Contrary to the cultural belief that gender is a social construct or spectrum, the Bible makes it clear that God made us male or female, and this is fundamental to our identity. These differences go beyond sexual organs and are embedded in our DNA, brain structure and chemistry. Studies in neuroscience and psychology show that men and women differ in thinking, emotions and behaviour, with much evidence indicating that, in general, men are more competitive, risk-taking, aggressive, task-orientated. Women, however, generally have greater empathy, intuition and social skills. Women and men tend towards different traits, abilities and preferences. Such differences shouldn’t surprise us because God deliberately made men and women different to each other.

More nuance needed? Structural inequalities might contribute to women’s stagnant progress, but less obvious factors may also be at play. In business, qualities like resourcefulness, resilience and risk-taking are often valued and traditionally associated with effective leaders. My survey of teachers found that empathy, agreeableness and diligence are commonly seen in girls, while boys are noted for traits like confidence, risk-taking and assertiveness. 

Schools may unintentionally perpetuate gender stereotypes by defining girls’ academic performance based on expectations that reinforce these differences. It’s possible that the behaviours schools reward – and those they penalise – favour girls in academic settings while boys are rewarded more in the professional world. 

Of course, good schools will promote risk-taking, confidence and associated skills in girls. But can they do this without suppressing their natural tendencies toward empathy and interpersonal relationships? Indeed, should they?

Teachers I surveyed made comments such as:

“Although most girls know they have the opportunity to access any career they choose, they do still tend towards gender stereotypes.”

“Recently, I realised that girls in school often enjoy ‘being helpful’ more than boys. As a Christian, this makes sense because females were designed by God to be ‘suitable helpers’. Their enjoyment in fulfilling this role reflects the goodness of God’s design.”

“Girls have high ambitions in exams, although their desire to do well academically is not often associated with their long-term goals.”

We should also remember that many boys and girls will break this mould, and that’s good too. Each of us is individually gifted and called by God to serve his purposes. The Bible shows wonderfully diverse expressions of manhood and womanhood and avoids narrow gender stereotypes; we mustn’t exaggerate the differences to fit a certain narrative.

The impact of family life

Many women in their late 20s and early 30s are busy having and raising children, which is the age range when career progress tends to stall. Women are usually the ones who adjust their schedules and make compromises when family needs conflict with work.

One of my friends at church reminded me that “having children involves dividing attention between family and work – something has to give”. Another commented: “Family considerations remain important. Ultimately pregnancy and maternity will affect careers, and in some families, women take the main responsibility for the day-to-day support for their children. It’s important to note that most do this very willingly.”

God deliberately made men and women different to each other

Few women choose to share parental leave with their partners, with most families opting for maternity leave over the shared parental leave that was introduced in the UK in 2018. And an analysis by Civitas - a British think tank working on issues related to democracy and social policy - of surveys over 13 years found that about 58 per cent of working mothers have consistently wanted to work fewer hours to spend more time with their children, rising to 65 per cent for those with pre-schoolers.

True equity? 

There may be another question worthy of consideration: is it inherently wrong that women may not succeed in business or industry in the same way as men? This raises another: do we have the same concern about the representation of women in traditional trades? Only about one per cent of electricians are women, and they are underrepresented in industries like construction, agriculture, mining and services such as maintenance and car repair. Is it only certain types and ranks of jobs we should be concerned about? 

Christians should be actively encouraging and developing women’s confidence

Also, although women may be less likely to reach higher positions in some fields, they now make up more than half of those entering high-status professions like medicine and law in the UK and other Western countries.

What should the Church do?

Encourage women. There’s a commonly quoted statistic that you’ve likely heard before: men apply for jobs when they meet just 60 per cent of the qualifications, while women apply only if they meet 100 per cent. Originating from a Hewlett Packard report and popularised in a variety of books and articles, it suggests that women need more confidence. It implies that men are confident at 60 per cent, whereas women aren’t until they meet every requirement.

One teacher I spoke with reflected on her experience, saying: “Women are generally less pushy, and will underestimate or downplay their achievements” and another explained: “Women don’t apply for jobs until they are sure they are ‘ready’, leading to mediocre, under-qualified younger men getting the jobs instead.”

If this is the case then, as Christians, we should be on the front foot – actively encouraging and developing women’s confidence, empowering them to pursue their calling and use their gifts fully. Historical wrongs must be righted, and misogynistic attitudes repented of. 

Teach the truth with confidence. Whatever their view of leadership in the Church family, ministers should be encouraging us to think through biblically what it means to be men and women in a modern world. They must celebrate and honour the differences that are part of God’s good design, and the value and dignity of motherhood must be esteemed. 

Christians must challenge, too, the notion that gender equality is achieved simply through a narrow income measurement. There must be no room for devaluing anyone based on gender, but there must be no value placed on anyone because of their professional and financial success. In fact, churches should urge both men and women to base their identity and worth in their relationship with God alone, not in career or academic achievements. 

This is especially important in Sunday schools where this needs to be encouraged from an early age.

Remember that good leadership is servant leadership. Regardless of gender, leadership should resonate with Christians in a way that is radically different to the world. The Bible doesn’t speak about ‘success’ in church leadership; it emphasises sacrificial service. And while we should be cautious about applying church teachings to secular employment, we can still draw important principles for broader application.

Christian professionals, whether male or female, must not yearn for title or status – such desires are worldly ambitions – but to be servants to their colleagues, seeking to empower and uplift others, following the example of Jesus, who said: “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45). 

Following in his steps, moving forward into selfless servant leadership may be challenging in a world of contradiction and confusion, but his example is undoubtedly the best path.

Lizzie Harewood is CEO of the Association of Christian Teachers. She previously spent twelve years as a secondary school English teacher. christian-teachers.org.uk