Gender Differences in Academic Performance in the subject of Pharmacology: A study conducted in a medical college

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