Report

‘No magic bullet’: An investigation into the first-class degree gender awarding gap at Oxford and Cambridge and how to address it

This report from UK think tank HEPI investigates the first-class gender awarding gap at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for undergraduate degrees.

This HEPI report investigates the first-class gender awarding gap at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for undergraduate degrees.

While women represent the majority of students in the UK and in most cases achieve the majority of first-class and ‘good honours’ degrees, the trend is bucked at some institutions, including Oxford and Cambridge. Though the size of the gaps varies by course, men are more likely to achieve first-class degrees at these institutions. The largest gap this report identifies is found in Classics at Oxford – 29 percentage points in favour of men in the 2021/22 academic year – and Theology at Cambridge with a 43.3 percentage point gap in favour of men in 2023/24. In other words, although 83.3% of men taking Theology at Cambridge received first-class honours, only 40.0% of women made the same grade.

Using data, academic research, and interview material, this HEPI report covers the current state of the gender awarding gap at Oxford and Cambridge. The report also analyses the connection to gender equality.