Do adults have more positive view of teenage girls?

[Dave Roberts]

The statistic in the survey that made the biggest impression on me was the fact that 78% of teenage boys said adults had a higher opinion of teenage girls than boys. I grew up in a family of four sisters and attended an all-girls school, while for the last 20 years or so I've lived in an all male household with my husband, sons and a male lodger for a while (although we did have a female snake for a few years!) From my experience teenage boys are far more straight-forward and less complicated than teenage girls although I'm aware that that perhaps makes as many assumptions about girls as boys feel adults make about them. I wonder if media representation is to blame for that statistic as well, or whether this is more to do with their actual experience in schools and at home. But how sad that boys feel undervalued and how important that we counteract that. Take this opportunity to reflect on how you treat boys and girls in your work - the expectations you have of them, the language you use, the stories you tell, the behaviour you reward. Do you value both boys and girls equally and how do you communicate that?

There are also several other links to material on teenage boys at the link below

The Sophia Network