What is it about?

The gap between boys’ and girls’ reading grows when schools are closed. We followed the reading habits of more than 200,000 Danish schoolchildren during holidays and COVID‑19 lockdowns. Girls simply read more than boys – and the difference becomes significantly larger when school is not in session. Girls reading interest and skills give them an advantage when the usual structure provided by school disappears. School plays an important role as a standardized framework that sustain reading practices. When that framework disappears, it is boys who fall the furthest behind.

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Why is it important?

The widened gender gap in reading may have long‑term consequences if boys do not catch up after holidays and school closures. We know that reading is a key competence. There is a clear link between being a strong reader and the likelihood of continuing in the education system after compulsory schooling. That is why it is important that schools understand how periods without school may affect boys and girls differently.

Perspectives

The study was fun to do because the data is so unusual (weekly online reading time and population level library loans). This gave us a unique opportunity to track children's actual reading behavior on a much larger scale and at a much more granular level than what is usually possible with traditional self-reported survey data.

Ea Blaabæk
University of Copenhagen, Department of Sociology

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Gender gaps in reading increase during unplanned and planned school closures, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March 2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2523152123.
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