A EurasiaNet Partner Post from Transitions Online
Whatever the reason for such gender imbalances, they seem to be an international phenomenon.
A walk through the corridors of Mongolia's universities and colleges can leave a visitor somewhat surprised. Almost everywhere, women's faces dominate--so much so that one might wonder if the men are hiding. But they are not. Universities in Mongolia simply do not enroll many men: Sixty percent of graduates are women, and in some places women outnumber men four to one.
Many educational analysts believe that sifting out students in the eighth grade is wrong. “Because boys are usually more daredevilish and mobile, they tend not to show the best results at school during their teenage years,” says T. Amgalan, the director of a Mongolian nongovernmental organization (NGO) called the Gender Center for Sustainable Development. “They usually become more responsible in the final grades of secondary school. Therefore it is too bad if they drop out of school at the eighth grade. The more accurate and concentrated ones stay, and as a rule, they are girls.”
