Making Sense of Mongolia's Inverse Gender Gap

• In Event: 40820 - Section on Sociology of Sex and Gender Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 13: Gender and Education

Abstract

This paper considers the so-called “inverse gender gap” in Mongolia, which refers to the fact that girls far outpace boys in educational attainment, as well as in extracurricular participation. Based upon one month of ethnographic fieldwork with an environmental nonprofit organization in Mongolia, the study followed a free summer camp that was almost entirely populated by girls. While gender was not part of the original research question, the gender imbalance in the summer camp led to more conversations with volunteers, activists, park rangers, and other adults in Mongolia about gender. While everyone was aware of the disparity between girls and boys in educational attainment and enrichment opportunity participation, people differed in their assessment of the situation. For many of those asked about the issue, it was presented as an artifact of patriarchy. Essentially, parents took their boys’ success in life for granted. Because of women’s inequality, parents over-compensated by pushing their daughters toward various educational and enrichment opportunities at the expense of their sons. “Girls use education to prove their existence,” said one woman. A man concurred, saying, “If a couple have a son and a daughter, they will put all their resources and energy into the girl because they just assume the boy will be alright.” However, some individuals simply observed the difference in boys’ and girls’ participation rates and then reified the difference by essentializing gender – this time to girls’ advantage. “Girls seem to be more competitive than boys…I think it is in their nature,” said one high schooler. Another adult suggested to me that “maybe girls are more ambitious.” The disparity, which seems to have resulted from women’s inequality in society, has an outcome that then is reinterpreted as “human nature,” showing the social construction of gender in action. Potential long-term consequences are also discussed.

Author

• Kate Pride Brown, Georgia Institute of Technology