Chapter 10: Education - Equality and Human Rights Commission

Chapter 10: Education 349
What we know about the situation for different groups
Gender and age
Basic skills
The data show no difference in the proportion of men and women in England
achieving functional literacy. However, women are less likely to achieve functional
numeracy. Just under half (48%) of women aged 16-24 in England achieve
functional numeracy, compared to 53% of men of the same age. However the
gender gap has narrowed significantly over time. For those aged 55-65 only 37%
of women achieved functional numeracy compared to 57% of men. 129 The patterns
in the Welsh data are also very similar. In Wales, there is no gender difference for
literacy, but men are more likely than women to achieve functional numeracy (54%
compared to 39%). 130
Qualifications
Long-term rises in qualification rates mean that more old than young adults lack
any qualifications as shown in Table 10.6.2 below. Overall, people aged 44 and
under do better than those aged 45 and over on every qualification measure.
Changes over time are closing the gender gap: while nearly 1 in 4 women in their
50s have no qualifications, compared to only 1 in 6 men, for 25-44-year-olds the
numbers are about equal, and for younger age groups women have the advantage.
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129
Department for Education and Skills 2003. The Skills for Life Survey:
A National needs and impact survey of literacy, numeracy and ICT skills.
DfES Research Report 90. London: DfES. Table 3.23, page 52.
130
Equality and Human Rights Commission analysis of Basic Skills Survey data
provided by Welsh Assembly Government.