SHARIF
IETLS practice

Universities should accept equal numbers of male and female students in every subject. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

With the progress of gender equality, some hold the view that in every subject of the universities, equal numbers of male and female students should be accepted. From my own perspective, I do not quite agree with this point of view.

It is not only unrealistic to require a university to accept same numbers of students from both sexes in every subject, but also not reasonable to do so. Despite the moral rule that all human beings are equal, men and women are born with physical and mental differences. They may not share the same interest in a particular subject statistically, thus, there would be a great chance that far more boys apply for one specific major in a university while fewer girls prefer it. Furthermore, universities should enroll students based on their qualification and potential for the subject without other considerations including the gender, which could benefit the students as well as the universities. It is unfair to reject the more qualified students to the university because of the gender quota, and only those students who fit the field best would be most likely to make academic achievements and to enjoy the process to achieve them.

Admittedly, it can make some sense to demand equal numbers of male and female students in every subject. Under a policy like this, girls could be inspired to pursue their academic career freely because there would be much more chances for them, while universities would find no method to discriminate female students. Moreover, it could lead to further gender equality in the professional life, which may contribute to a more enlightened society.

To conclude, although it is based on sheer good intention to appeal to universities to accept equal numbers of students of both genders in every subject, it is hard to practice and may create a new kind of unfairness. I would suggest that universities offer same chances to both male and female students at the application stage, but accept the best qualified ones regardless of their gender.

Jul 14, 2014 2:56 PM
Comments · 1

I've only just completed my GCSEs, but the best solution I thought of when I quickly researched gender-based learning differences, is that each subject should have a relevant quota.

 

I am going to use the example followed hypothetically so noone should verbally attack me but research online have mentioned it but it could be wrong and there's points in favour of women as well .

 

Engineering should allow more leeway to males because they are supposedly have better Mathematical & Spacial Awareness because the area of the brain which involves those skills is more developed. However there should be a minimum percentage of females. So overall there should at least 30% females regardless of how many average males are better than their female counterparts and then the other 70% is regardless of gender, presuming that the percentage of males accepted is going to be (a lot) higher than females accepted. There should also be a minimum percentage of males (30%) in case there is an anomolous year. That's the principle of my idea.

 

This should ensure that there won't be predominantly one gender in a field of study but it considers that males and females have genetically different capacities meaning males have some skills on average better than their female counterpart and females have some skills on average better than their male counterparts.

 

Bye, Stuart

July 14, 2014