SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AMONG BOYS AND GIRLS - BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION

In this paper, the author examines a number of issues from the debate launched during the end of the 1980s that relate to the relative over-representation of girls in schools. He begins by setting the phonomenon in its social context, describes scholastic success in terms of sex, and explores the area of class structures from the inter-war period. His findings lead him to a discussion of the relevance of explanations in terms of cultural gender relations, and suggest an approach which refers to the mobilization of his protagonists, rather than to a structural interpretation of social change.