SEX-DIFFERENCES AND STUDENTS EXAMINATION PAPERS - AN EXPLORATIVE INVESTIGATION

For 20 years sexual equality in education has been discussed in Scandinavia. Today women are in majority at the Humanities. Do female students adapt to the traditional values of the university or has a new behaviour developed? A qualitative, explorative study concerning behaviour patterns related to sex in 130 examination papers in Psychology has been performed. The majority of papers showed features related to the students' sex. The women's papers were more homogeneous in relation to mark, form and content. The men's papers were more individually differentiated. The results show that female students tend to choose topics where they may be personally involved in human and social problems, e.g. among underprivileged groups. However, they suppress their personal needs and emotions in favour of theoretical reports of literature. They keep to the well-known patterns of content and form. The content is presented in a co-ordinated and well-formulated way. They adapt to the examination requirements, without serious deficiencies. Papers of male students show a tendency to be directed towards certain aims, towards asking questions and solving problems, and towards seeking changes through practical or theorethical proposals. They often exceed the limits put down, take risks and put forward untraditional ideas. The quality varies from excellent to inferior. Mostly the papers are systematically structured and the students enter into discussions in a self-assured way. This paper raises the questions: Do teachers do the female students a disservice by rewarding the well-adjusted and reproductive behaviour, and is the less-adjusted and more limit-exceeding behaviour sorted out? Does higher education have the capacity and willingness to develop and profit from the resources of both males and females?