Miles to go: The continuing quest for gender equity in the classroom 

In the 1990s, a number of scholarly and popular publications raised concerns about the challenges girls were facing both in and out of school. For example, in their well-known book Failing at Fairness (1994), researchers Myra and David Sadker revealed persistent biases against girls by many educators, as well as the widespread under-recognition of learning disabilities among girls and the fact that girls were performing relatively poorly on standardized tests despite having higher grades than boys. Meanwhile, Peggy Orenstein’s best-selling book Schoolgirls (1994) highlighted the extent to which girls were suffering from sexual harassment at school, and Mary Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia (1994) brought awareness to teenage girls’ high rates of depression and frequent struggles with self-doubt.  

Today, some people may wonder whether we still need to be talking about how girls are doing in school. After all, we now see evidence of their success all around us. Girls are enrolling and graduating from college in record numbers (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). They now make up the majority of enrollments in medical schools and law schools. More and more women are succeeding as politicians, activists, business leaders, and on and on.  

The idea that girls are doing just fine in school is not uncommon, nor is it new. Nearly two decades ago, scholar Christina Hoff Sommers (2000) made headlines with a passionate plea in The Atlantic for more attention to be paid to the plight of boys. It was a mistake, she argued, to direct so much attention and resources to supporting girls. Actually, she went on, in her provocatively titled book The War Against Boys (2001), it was boys who warranted far more concern. The author Peg Tyre added fuel to the fire with The Trouble with Boys (2008), touting studies that showed, for example, that boys were being disciplined and expelled from schools in much greater numbers than girls. The school environment had become feminized, she argued, and boys were being penalized for behaving in naturally masculine ways. Meanwhile, girls were earning higher grades, and their rates of college attendance were growing much faster.