GENDER AND SOCIAL-INEQUALITY AT OXFORD-UNIVERSITY AND CAMBRIDGE-UNIVERSITY

The academic efficiency and social justice of entry procedures at Oxfo rd and Cambridge Universities are examined over the past quarter of a century. For each major subject the mean A-level scores of males and f emales entering from state and independent schools are compared with m ean final examination scores in the major subjects. In any comparison of state and independent cohorts of the same gender, within the bounds of normal statistical fluctuation, the difference in A-level scope is a good predictor of the difference in finals score. For example, when between state men and independent men the difference in A-level score is zero, the difference between mean finals score is zero also. The o rigin of female under-achievement is examined In most subjects there i s pronounced gender inequality due to the following chain of circumsta nces: (1) to break-even in finals women require at entry better grades at Advanced Level than men; (2) women used to have much the better A- levels and so, in finals a quarter of a century ago, they matched and even-in some subjects-surpassed the men; (3) the A-levels of women ent ering Oxford and Cambridge Universities fell off during the 1970s; (4) today female A-level scores are slightly worse than male A-level scor es, and so female finals scores are much worse, in most subjects, than male finals scares. The concept of an ideal subject is defined; this is a subject in which zero difference in A-level score between male an d female yields zero difference in finals score. Law at Cambridge and chemistry at Oxford are ideal subjects. Ideal subjects are rare at Oxb ridge: most subjects exhibit a significant male lead in finals when ma le and female have equal A-level scores. The most nan-ideal subject at Oxford is mathematics, in which zero difference in A-level score betw een males and females yields a male lead in finals score of 13%: at Ox ford the other nan-ideal subjects are physics (male lead at equal A-le vels 11%), philosophy, politics and economics (9%), history (8%), mode rn languages (8%) and English (5%). An ideal subject is a paradigm whi ch requires even-handedness between male and female cohorts in the fol lowing parameters: (1) efficiency of course selection from school; (2) efficiency of teaching; (3) efficiency of finals assessment; (4) late nt ability. A pronounced relative decline in the A-level scores of gir ls educated in state maintained schools entering English and Welsh uni versities occurred in the 1970s; it is attributed to the reform of the state school system, particularly the growth in mixed-sex comprehensi ve schools and the decline in the number of female single-sex grammar schools. A peculiar aspect of the admissions filters at both Oxford an d Cambridge ensures that state-school educated men gaining entry do so with A-level scores markedly superior to those of the other three coh orts.