In the public debate Norwegian schools are criticized for being feminized. But according to Professor Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen, it is not the schools that are poorly suited to boys – it is the girls who are better suited to the demands of modern working life.

A dedicated football player, a disciplined martial arts practitioner or a respected weightlifter? According to a recent Norwegian study, young girls are most concerned with their appearance as they become teenagers, but boys must do something to become young men. Their choice of activity is also a choice of masculine identity. 

Boys in primary school talk about their feelings and hold hands. And they are very, very concerned about their bodies and appearance.

Norwegian textbooks juxtapose a positive, liberal Norwegian sexuality with a negative non-Norwegian, often Muslim, sexuality. And nobody agrees on what racism entails or how the topic can be taught in the classroom.

There is no doubt that boys and girls perform differently at school. But simply looking at gender in order to understand why is not enough.

Why do we make the choices that we do? Are we born this way or have we become this way? Behavioural economists look for answers through economic and math experiments in the laboratory.

The Norwegian-Pakistani daughters are raised by stay-at-home mothers in gender traditional homes. But following in their mothers footsteps is not an option. Even after having children, they return to their paid jobs.

According to a new doctoral thesis, the answer to why pupils perform differently in school is not found by looking at girls and boys as separate groups.