This Cambridge University report has found that boys who resisted traditional ideas about masculinity did well in their exams, while those who had an emotionally ‘hard’ image performed poorest.
On average, the girls did significantly better in English, while boys were slightly better at Maths. Girls outperformed boys overall, matching a general pattern familiar in many western countries.
However, the study went a step further by analysing sub-groups of boys and girls according to how they expressed their gender identity.
The study asked pupils to complete questionnaires which measured how far they conformed to certain gender “norms”.
The academics said these were drawn from two widely-used scales that identify the characteristics which people in western countries consider “typically” masculine or feminine.