Women less likely to get first-class honours at Oxford or Cambridge

It bucks the general results trend among the genders.

But female students are less likely to get first-class honours at Oxbridge - and it is partly because of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and a higher aversion to risk, a new report suggests.

Male students are ahead in gaining the top mark in almost every subject at Oxford and Cambridge, according to the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi).

The study said that the focus on end-of-year exams at these universities disadvantages women, causing fewer of them to get firsts.

It suggested this could be because some women are held back by PMS on any particular exam day.

In addition, it may be that women do better in coursework and continuous assessment because they thrive in lower-risk situations rather than a high-stakes end-of-year exam.

The study pointed out that women are ahead of men at other universities where there is not such a heavy focus on exams.

At Cambridge, the biggest attainment gap was in theology, where men are ahead of women by 43 percentage points.

At Oxford, it was classics, which has a 29 percentage point gap in favour of men.

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Men are ahead in a wide range of other subjects, from history to physics, with only a handful of disciplines across both universities where this is not the case.

It is a problem specific to Oxbridge, as the only subject group where men generally outperform women at a first-class level is the social sciences, with a 0.9 percentage point gap.

Report author Famke Veenstra-Ashmore said: ‘Women still face significant institutional barriers to the highest levels of academic achievement at Oxford and Cambridge.

‘The slow pace of change is deeply unfair and means female students are not getting the most out of their experience of higher education.’

The report says a number of factors may contribute to the trend, including Oxbridge’s focus on final year exams.

It says: ‘[This] disadvantages women from reaching the first-class bracket because they are generally less likely to take risks, are impacted by Premenstrual Syndrome and may perform better in coursework.’

The report added: ‘The added anxieties around menstruation and the tiredness and pain that can come with it are often cited as contributors to unexpectedly poor academic performance in some examinations taken by women.’

Other reasons could include the lack of female lecturers in some subjects, as ‘role models are important for building confidence and encouraging aspiration.’

In addition, the tutorial system of Oxbridge is sometimes ‘combative and confrontational’, with some female students reporting they felt ‘undermined’ during discussions by male peers.

The report called for a ‘reconsideration’ of the ‘balance of examinations to coursework’, as ‘in some cases, coursework is a fairer evaluation of a student’s research skills’.

However, it stressed that assessment should not be ‘dumbed down’ and should retain its ‘rigour’.

Professor Bhaskar Vira, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at Cambridge, said: ‘The university is investigating possible causes for the awarding gap in first class degrees, including variation across subject and time.

‘This is also being examined as part of our current teaching review. Our findings so far suggest that there is no single cause, and while there are examples of progress in some parts of the University, more remains to be done..’

Oxford was contacted for comment.