The data in 2014 showed little change in the pattern of results by male and female students, despite the shift from coursework towards end-of-course exams, thought by some to favour boys.
The GDST's acting director of education, Lisa Laws, said: Our girls' results, and those of girls nationally, directly contradict the forecasts that predicted that the new A* grade, alongside the reduction in the number of modules in some subjects, would favour boys.
The result may reflect mere differentials by sex as a demographic factor as would other socioeconomic factors such as maternal education, urban-rural differences etc., and not a deliberate effort by families to favour boys.
Even nonverbal teacher behaviours, such as smiles, have been shown to favour boys over girls.
Games at youth centres seem to favour boys, and may make girls feel unwelcome.
It may be that when resources are limited, culture and economics favour boys.
Gender inequity in access to health services is believed to be one consequence of larger societal circumstances across South Asia that favour boys and leads to the marginalization of women from a young age [ 11].
Further research is required to explore our hypotheses, particularly whether culture and economics favour boys, and at which point in the 'chain' of cancer registration girls are being missed.
Spelke is astonished as to why this slight difference favouring boys has attracted such disproportionate attention.
Overall, in 45 items in the test, only three show sex difference, two of them favour girls and only this aspect of mental rotation favours boys.
