De mythe van het ‘vrouwengevaar’: Een historiserende inventarisatie van (inter)nationaal onderzoek naar de relatie tussen feminisering en ‘jongensproblemen’ in het onderwijs

Abstract

Recent debates in the media and in the academic press have focused on boys' problems. Differential achievements of boys and girls, and boys' emotional and behavioral problems are suggested to be the effect of the feminisation in schools, the increase of women teachers in primary schools. From a historical point of view, this supposed relationship is a déjà vu. For instance in the U.S., similar debates took place in the sixties and seventies of the 20th century. This article reviews the body of research on teachers' sex and pupils' achievements and concludes that there is no empirical ground for boys' problems as an effect of feminisation. It appears that, as in other historical periods, the 'women peril' in schools is no more than a myth.