She added a 'deafening policy silence' from the government is to blame

Ms Curnock Cook said male students are having their progress hindered

Mary Curnock Cook of Ucas says it's time to focus on boys' enrolment

Universities should be taking 'positive action' to accept more boys, claims the female head of Undergraduate Courses At University And College, which matches university applicants and places.

Mary Curnock Cook suggested feminism has 'gone too far' and that male students are having their progress hindered by a lack of male teachers and a widening gender gap.

She said having a female-dominated teaching industry could be hurting boys and suggested promoting teaching to men.

Mary Curnock Cook, the head of Ucas, said boys' progress is hindered by a female dominated teaching force

'Does lower achievement for boys have anything to do with the 80 per cent female dominated state schools’ workforce, which includes 85 per cent female teachers in primary schools and 62 per cent in secondary?

'Would boys respond and learn better with more male teachers and role models?'

She suggested advertising teaching to male students in the way STEM, or science, technology, engineering and maths, courses are promoted to women

Women who started university in September outnumbered men in 112 out of 180 subjects, with big differences in biology, nursing, social work, linguistics and psychology, a study released yesterday said.

However, in traditionally male dominated subjects, such as physics, maths, computer science and engineering, men continue to outnumber women.

Ms Curnock Cook said the UK need more male teachers in schools as role models for boys

Ms Curnock Cook said that more could be done to help further boys' academic achievement.

'There is plenty of research about the differences in the male and female brain, hormones, maturity and behaviour, learning styles and preferences, and how these affect educational achievement.

'But although most schools will track the achievement of their boys and girls, there seems to be little focus on the gender gap in education policy,' she said.

Ms Curnock Cook blamed the 'deafening policy silence' from the Government for what the increasing gap between boys and girls at A-level.

Ms Curnock Cook said the 'deafening policy silence' from the Government is to blame for the gender gap, which causes boys to be hindered in academic progress and achievement

In an article written for the Telegraph, Ms Curnock Cook claimed that the 'highly entrenched trend' was a direct result of 'years of lower educational achievement by boys'.

'Has the women's movement now become so normalised that we cannot conceive of needing to take positive action to secure equal education outcomes for boys?' she said.

Her comments come after a study revealed 28.3 per cent of poor white boys achieved five GCSEs at grade A* to C, including English and maths, compared with 37.1 per cent of girls in the same demographic.

In the article Ms Curnock Cook wrote: 'Each time Ucas releases statistics on equality of access to university in the UK, the gap between the entry rates for girls and boys gets a bit worse.'

Ms Curnock Cook praised efforts that focus on helping white working class boys as a 'really important signal of change'.