Schools, Parents, and Rational Feminism Available to Purchase

A great deal has been written on the different influences on, and assumptions about, girls and boys, and there are many statistics available for the enthusiast. Most of what has been written necessarily makes use of the concept of the ‘average’ boy and girl. It has to be remembered that the average conceals enormous differences. Girls develop, both intellectually and emotionally, earlier than boys; but not all girls do so, some are ‘late developers’. Boys at primary school are noisier and more demanding than girls; but the quiet, self‐contained boy may be quieter than any girl. And so on. Trends are no more than that; they do not represent fixed characteristics of a universal and necessary kind. That is fortunate; if they did, it would be hopeless to try to change them.