i

GENDER DISPARITIES |

Gender Disparities and Academic Performance of ABM Students

of Maria Aurora National High School

Jolina F. Mendoza, Desiree E. Rivera, Kristina G. Galande, Eufrecenia B.

Ferrer

Senior High School Department

Maria Aurora National High School

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GENDER DISPARITIES |

APPROVAL SHEET

This research paper entitled “Gender Disparities and Academic

Performance of ABM Students of Maria Aurora National High School”,

prepared and submitted by Jolina F. Mendoza, Desiree E. Rivera, Kristina G.

Galande, Eufrecenia B. Ferrer in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

ACCOUNTANCY, BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT is hereby accepted;

LOMEL L. ALVARADO ROMELYN T. BUGYON

Member Member

Date Signed Date Signed

Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the subject

PRACTICAL RESEARCH

Recommending Approval: Approved by:

MARIVIC V. FARRO
Research Adviser School Principal II

Date Signed Date Signed

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GENDER DISPARITIES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Our deepest gratitude to the Lord Almighty, for all the blessings that He

has given to us. To the following persons who devoted and spent their time

and patience in making this study possible.

To our family, who provided us with encouragement, inspiration and

financial support. Also to our friends and respondents for their time and effort.

To our research adviser, Mr. Daniel T. Delos Santos, for guiding us

until we were able to accomplish this study.

To Ms. Marivic V. Farro, School Principal for the approval of this

research.

To Mr. Lomel L. Alvarado and Ms. Romelyn T. Bugyon for being our

panel members who helped reviewed the content of our research.

And to all those people whose names may not have been mentioned

but played a great part in our study, thank you very much.

The Researchers
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Table of Contents

Title Page

Approval Sheet

Acknowlegement

Table of Contents

List of Tables

List of Figures

Abstract

Introduction

Research Question

Conceptual Framework

Assumption of the Study

Significance of the Study

Scope and Delimitation

Methods

Types of Research

Research Design
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Statistical Method

Research Instrument

Respondents and Sampling Method

Work Plan

Results and Discussions

Conclusions and Recommendations

References
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GENDER DISPARITIES

List of Tables

Table
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List of Figures

Figure
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Abstract
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GENDER DISPARITIES|

Gender Disparities and Academic Performance of ABM Students of

Maria Aurora National High School

Schools are influential agents of socialization, they play vital roles in

how we make meaning of the world around us, significantly affecting how we

perceive ourselves and others, as well as differences across race,

languages, disabilities, and gender. Schools have the responsibility to

model, teach, and create conditions in which each child's gender diversity is

accepted and nourished. Schools should be a welcoming place for students

of all genders, including students who identify as nonbinary or transgender.

So, what can we do to alleviate these issues related to gender in schools?

Gender differences with regard to academic performance remain one of the

more challenging issues in educational research. Gender disparity in

education has traditionally focus on the under participation of girls and still is

in some parts of the world. The purpose of this is to address and to

understand the nature of the issue by analyzing the student participation and

performance; and secondly, to seek whether student engagement is possible

factor contributing to school and low achievement. Academic performance is a

crucial research topic though there is no agreed-upon of its measures,

literature determined three group factors that affect the quality of academic

performance: Aptitude, instruction, and environment (Walberg, 1981). Gender

is another factor assumed to affect students’ academic scores considerably.

Many studies have shown that boys and girls perform differently. Gender

differences in academic performance have engaged the attention of scholars

for some time now (Morrain-Webb 2019).

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GENDER DISPARITIES

Gender involves masculine and feminine feelings, attitudes and

behaviors identification with a particular sex-biologically, psychologically and

socially. When we behave according to widely shared expectations about how

males or females are supposed to act, we adopt a gender role. Biological

factors play an important part in determining and categorizing us as male or

female. There are two prominent views about the origins of gender differences

in human behavior. Some theorists see gender differences as a reflection of

naturally evolved tendencies and society must reinforce those tendencies if it

is to function smoothly. Sociobiologists call this perspective as essentialism.

That is because it views gender as part of the nature or essence of one's

biological and social make-up. The second group of sociologists sees gender

differences as social constructionism, mainly as a reflection of the different

social positions occupied by women and men. They view gender as

constructed by social structure and culture. According to Buss (2012) these

are universal features of our evolved selves that contribute to the survival of

human species. Thus, from the point of view of sociobiology and evolutionary

psychology, gender differences in behavior are based in biological differences

between women and men. Functionalists reinforce the essentialist viewpoint

by saying that traditional gender roles help in integration of the society. Each

generation learns to perform these complementary roles by means of gender

role socialization. For boys, the masculinity is defined by the traits such as

rationality, self-assuredness, and competitiveness. For girls, the femininity is

nurturance and sensitivity to others. Boys and girls first learn their respective

gender traits in the family as they see their parents going about their daily

routines. The larger society also promotes gender role conformity. Learning
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GENDER DISPARITIES

the essential features of femininity and masculinity integrates society and

allows it to function properly. For clarity, psychologists sometimes

distinguish gender differences, which are related to social roles, from sex

differences, which are related only to physiology and anatomy. Using this

terminology, gender matters in teaching more than sex. Being able to identify

the factors that influence male and female academic performance could better

help administrators, instructors and policy makers establish measures to

improve student academic performance; companies and organizations that

require accountants will be better able to hire better qualified candidates

indistinctive of their gender (Albelda Pérez and Florez López, 2012).

Academic success has traditionally been associated with cognitive abilities. In

accounting programs, students with better intellectual abilities have

demonstrated higher academic performance (Martí-Ballester, 2012; Hosal-

Akman and Simga-Mugan, 2010). However, cognitive abilities may vary

depending on gender, according to Strand, Deary and Smith (2006) who state

that such differences between male and female students depend on the kind

of task.

Gender differences also occur in the realm of classroom behavior.

Teachers tend to praise girls for “good” behavior, regardless of its relevance

to content or to the lesson at hand, and tend to criticize boys for “bad” or

inappropriate behavior (Golombok & Fivush, 1994). This difference can also

be stated in terms of what teachers overlook: with girls, they tend to overlook

behavior that is not appropriate, but with boys they tend to overlook behavior

that is appropriate. The net result in this case is to make girls’ seem more

good than they may really be, and also to make their “goodness” seem more
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GENDER DISPARITIES

important than their academic competence. By the same token, the teacher’s

patterns of response imply that boys are more “bad” than they may really be.

At first glance, the gender differences in interaction can seem discouraging

and critical of teachers because they imply that teachers as a group are

biased about gender. But this conclusion is too simplistic for a couple of

reasons. Gender discrimination today is a big problem on our society that

leads into a negative outcome on our school as part of society, that is why we

are conducted a research about gender differences to know and solve many

different issues about inequality. This research was conducted to give

opportunity to all genders, to have a voice and a free will to share their

thoughts and feelings. This research will enhance the students knowledge in

equality and to give them an idea on how to deal with this kind of situations by

giving them some knowledge about equality towards other genders. The

researchers are the bridge to know what they really are and it can

strengthened their confidence to fulfill their dreams, show a better academic

performances and success.

Student’s academic performance has been an important issue for

higher education institutions and investigation into the possibility of student

achievement is also important in many ways for universities, their teachers

and students. ABM subjects in Senior High School will introduce students to

the concepts of financial management, business management, corporate

operations, and accounting. Students who select this route will be prepared

for colorful careers as managers, accountants, and business owners. Being

an ABM student can be beneficial to be intellectual enough to carry out

problems, gain better reasoning skills to help me in the discovery of

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GENDER DISPARITIES

underlying principles between two or more objects and use it to solve problem

and also the analytical skills to help me to be able to review, interpret,

evaluate financial data and systems and operational data/controls in order to

form conclusion. Much of the previous research that seeks to examine factors

affecting students’ academic performance in accounting have suggested that

factors such as gender, prior knowledge in accounting, scientific and

mathematical intelligence can cause difference in students scores. Since

many previous researches have been conducted on students’ performance

(Yilmaz Guney (2009); The Accountancy Business and Management (ABM)

strand focuses on the basic concepts in management thus, leading its

students to careers in accounting and management (Engadin, 2018). In ABM,

the researchers noticed that some ABM students were experiencing

difficulties in dealing with specialized subjects. This triggered the researchers

to know the ABM students’ performance in the specialized subjects

Organization and Management and Business Mathematics to design a

strategic intervention material that will enhance the performance of the

students

This study aimed at investigating the factors on how gender differences

affects the ABM students in academic performance. To analyze what will be

the best way to enhance learning when it comes to the gender differences.

This helps the ABM students to learn more about gender differences and how

to improve the communication between other genders. This also provide a

better future for our classroom surroundings. This study seeks to assess the

academic performance of male and female students studying ABM and the

contributory factors explaining the gender differences, if there are, are also
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GENDER DISPARITIES

explored. The researchers focused on this topic for the benefit of earning or

determining the circumstances and factors that may concern the students’

performance at this field. Hence, this study intends to pinpoint its possible

effects or factors of the academic performance of Accountancy Business

Management (ABM) students, it may include that this research

aims to direct the proper references in order to improve the academic

performance of ABM students and to other students as well in Maria Aurora

National High School. In this study the factors that can affect the students’

perception were determined and also to find out the ways to improve their

grades and study habits that can help them improve in their studies about

their subjects in the strand, Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM).

This study aimed to help identify the performance and to know how they can

improve.

Research Questions

This study focused on the Gender Disparities and Academic

Performance of ABM Students of Maria Aurora National High School.

The research sub-questions were the following:

1. What is the profile of respondents in terms of:

1.1 age;

1.2 gender;

1.3 year&section;

1.4 status; and

1.5 educational attainment?

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GENDER DISPARITIES

2. What are the factors affecting the academic performance of ABM students

in Maria Aurora National High School?

3. What are the ways to overcome the gender disparities affecting their

academic performance?

Conceptual Framework

In this Conceptual Framework researchers used IPO. Whereas IPO

stands for Input, Process and Output. The input were the Profile of the

Respondents found, the process are the factors that affect the academic

performance of ABM students. While the output are the ways to overcome the

Gender Disparities affecting their Academic Performance.

Input Process Output

Factors that Ways to overcome

Profile of affecting the the Gender
the
Academic Disparities
Respondents
Performance of affecting their

ABM students Academic

Performance

Figure 1. The diagrammatical representation of input, process, and output.

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GENDER DISPARITIES

Assumption of the Study

This study is designed to assess the effects of gender differences in

line with the academic performance of both genders will be identified and

studied thoroughly on how students cope and deal with those differences.

Significance of the Study

Considering that Gender Differences is always present in school, it

plays an important role in the academic performance of most students today.

It may or may not pose some effects, either short term or long term, to

students that would likely affect their academic performance.

The result and findings of this study could be highly significant and

beneficial to the following:

Teachers- this study could be helpful to some teachers so that they

could inform students on what could be the possible effects of Gender

Differences on them. This study could also give teachers an idea and

understanding of what is possible and mostly encountered effects of Gender

Differences that may help the teacher on how to cope with those differences,

whether if it will affects the students negatively or positively.

Senior High School Students- this study about having Gender

Differences in a school or a class and how it affects the students can be a

reference or a learning material for Senior High School students to enhance

students’ knowledge about what could be the effects of having differences in

gender through their academic performance. This study is conducted to help

students learn more about what could be the most possible and most

experienced effect of gender differences to their academic performance so

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GENDER DISPARITIES

that they could learn more about what could be the possible solutions if ever

they have encountered the effects of gender difference, whether positively or

negatively.

Future Researchers- this study will help them uncover many broad areas of

Gender Differences and its effect/s to the academic performance of the

students that many researchers are not able to explore or learn. This study is

made to help future researchers to develop their knowledge about Gender

Differences, to know what could and should be the possible solutions

regarding the problem, to implement some rules and regulations if ever the

effects are negative and to know what behavior do the students show when it

is present. This could also serve as a future reference for the researchers that

research on a topic about Gender Difference. This study could also serve as

another source of the problem of a certain study or it can be replicated if a

researcher adds a certain variable and is on another setting or locale or with

different respondents. This could result in a new and possible research study

for another researcher and this could also serve as a reference for another

study in the mere future for future researchers.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study is only limited to Grade 11 and 12 Accountancy, Business

and Management (ABM) students of Maria Aurora National High School. This

study will also give its focus to the factors that are affecting the students’

academic performance and provide ways to help students to improve it. The

main purpose of the study is to provide information regarding Gender

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GENDER DISPARITIES

Disparities and Academic Performance of ABM Students in Maria Aurora

National High School. The study considers the students’ personal information

such as their name (optional) gender, age, and section. The researchers

limited the study 40 students only, 20 respondents for each Senior High

School level.

The students selected came from different level to avoid

prejudice of their perceptions. In order to assure manageability of the

collected data, the questionaire only included multiple choice items, checklist

and ranking/rating questions and did not include open-end