The gap in top GCSE results between boys and girls is at its narrowest in 14 years, an analysis of official figures shows.
One in four female entries achieved at least a grade 7 or A this year (24.9%), compared with almost one in five of male entries (19.1%) – a gap of 5.8 percentage points.
This is the narrowest lead enjoyed by girls at 7/A since 2009.
There could be lots of factors for the difference, one exam board leader said, such as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, societal expectations and maturity levels.
The gender gap stood at 7.4 percentage points last year, with 30.0% of female entries scoring at least A/7, compared with 22.6% for males.
In 2019 – before the pandemic – girls led by 6.5 percentage points.
The gap has also narrowed slightly at grade 4 or C this year with 71.7% of girls’ entries achieving this standard compared with 64.9% of boys’ entries – a difference of 6.8 percentage points.
Last year, this difference was 6.9 percentage points and in 2019, it was 8.8 percentage points.
Claire Thomson, director of regulation and compliance at the AQA exam board, said females tend to outperform their male classmates in most developed countries.
She said: “It’s purely speculation about the factors that might influence this – how people have come through the pandemic years and may have changed.
“It could be about societal expectations, it could be about difference in attitudes to work, the push on equality, diversity and inclusion in the classroom changing the shift a little bit, it could be about maturity levels.
“There are loads of factors in the mix so it’s really difficult to say anything beyond speculation.
“The main thing today is to celebrate the achievement of all our students who sat exams this year confident in the knowledge that they have been assessed fairly and, really critically, importantly, when we are talking about males and females they have been assessed anonymously.
“So our markers do not know whether they are male or female students when they are assessed.”
Donna Stevens, chief executive of the Girls’ Schools Association, said the organisation “celebrates girls’ achievements nationwide”.
She said: “It is testament to our young women’s tenacity, ambition and passion for learning, despite the challenges of the pandemic years.
“This year girls outperformed boys, but with the gender gap closing it’s good to see boys catching up.”
While traditional A*-G grades are used in Northern Ireland and Wales, in England these have been replaced with a 9-1 system, where 9 is the highest.
A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, and a 7 is broadly equivalent to an A.
Last summer the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) – which publishes exam results – said it was looking at the possibility of recording results for non-binary pupils rather than just females and males in future exam breakdowns.
Asked about this at a briefing on GCSE results, Ian Morgan, chair of the JCQ board, said: “I think it’s really important to set the policy context in which the JCQ and awarding organisations and exam boards operate.
“We have a direct relationship with schools and colleges in terms of collecting data and information in relation to learners and so there would need to be policy changes so that data is collected at source in order for JCQ to be able to do anything with it.”
He added that while JCQ is aware of these questions it is “only a piece of the jigsaw and other things would need to change in order for JCQ to progress in that manner.”
