Are girls different than boys?

It certainly is difficult to choose a place to start to answer such a question.  Aside from the obvious anatomical differences, males and females also seem to think differently.  Let’s take for example the two books, Mindset and Outliers.  Both of these books focus on the idea of success and how to achieve it, but one was written by a male and the other a female. Not only do the writing styles of the two authors differ drastically, but even their ideologies are completely contradicting.  The author of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell, claims that success is almost entirely dependent on opportunities which present themselves throughout life and almost completely out of the hands of one who is trying to achieve success ( Gladwell 2008).  Carol Dweck, the author of Mindset, on the other hand likes to believe that one’s success is in one’s control and is entirely governed by mindset (Dweck 2006).  Although we cannot say for certain that all males will agree with Gladwell and all females will agree with Dweck, it appears that each author’s ideologies partially reflect their respective masculinity and femininity.

            But when we shy away from these books and look at other studies and articles relating to differences in success relating to gender differences, we can also infer certain differences in the minds of men and women.  According to the American Council of Education, women have made up almost sixty percent of enrollments at American colleges since the year 2000.  Women also tend to have higher grades and drop out from college less than men (Williams 2010).  But simply knowing that statistics and information like this relating to differences in gender and success exist is not enough.  Then comes the “why?”.  Why are men and women so different when it comes to success?  Specifically, why do more women go on to college?  Is it because more women possess growth mindsets and can learn from mistakes to expand their knowledge (Dweck 2006)?  Or perhaps it is because more women have parents who encourage success in higher education, and thus are more likely to have the right opportunities to want to go to college ( Gladwell 2008).

            However, I do not believe that the answer is quite so simple.  The minds of males and females seem to work so differently.  There are so many different studies out there providing information about the differences in academic ability between the two genders.  Some say that men are better and math and science, whereas women excel at subjects which involve abstract thought like writing and art.  But with so many different studies out there, it’s tremendously difficult to agree with them all.  Two studies about the same subject may come up with completely different results.

            In the end, the truth behind the differences between males and females and why they exist lies within our minds.  It feels to me that the research and studies that we, as a society, do create these differences between males and females.  Without society’s studies into the minds of men and women, we wouldn’t know that more women go to college; or that men excel at certain subject and women excel at others.  Without society’s research, men and women would essentially be the same and only differ in physical appearance. 

Dweck, C.S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.

Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. New York, NY: Little, Brown, and Company.

Williams, A. (2010, February 7). The new math on campus. New York Times. Retrieved February 15, 2011