Gender Differences in Academic Performance in the subject of Pharmacology: A study conducted in a medical college
Moazzam Ali Atif, Sana Tufail, Khursheed Anwar, Asia Firdous, Shazia Asim, Hammad Hussain, Ajaz Fatima
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ABSTRACT
Background: The proportion of female students
is increasing progressively in medical schools, but concern remains about
differing performance in exams. A limited data is available on comparison of
academic performance of male and female students from developing countries.
Aim: To compare them regarding their
academic performance in the subject of pharmacology.
Methods: This comparative study was conducted at Pharmacology
departments of Sheikh Zayed medical college Rahim yar khan and Quaid-e-Azam
medical college Bahawalpur among 3rd yr MBBS students of sessions
2019 and 2020. The overall attendance of students was counted and compared as
well as all the pharmacology test results were evaluated and compared on the
basis of previous record of fortnightly, end of module, midterm and end term
examinations.
Results: Girls outnumbered boys (528 girls
vs 437 boys) in medical admissions. The girls were having better attendance and
test results ( 92% vs 65% for better attendance & 26% vs 19% for better
results) in both sessions 2019 and 2020.
The results also showed that students from literate background and urban
areas got more admission in medical college but more number of boys are
boarders compared to girls who prefer to be day scholars due to social
circumstances of South Punjab.
Conclusion: The female students tend to perform better than boys in
pre clinical subjects. The number of female medical students is increasing
progressively and they out perform their male counterparts both in attendance
and internal assessments. The study is documentation of this fact, for future
measures that can be done for improvement of male students performance.
Keywords: Gender difference,
pharmacology, performance