Girls have more than equal the opportunities of boys today, says Kathleen Parker. And boys are in more trouble than girls.

• For example, according to Michael Gurian's "The Wonder of Boys," for every one girl with the following difficulties: four boys are diagnosed as emotionally disturbed; two boys are learning-disabled; six boys are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder; and two teen boys die.

• On standardized tests of 17-year-olds, boys still outperform girls by three points in math and 11 points in science; but girls outperform boys by 13 points in reading and 24 points in writing.

• Girls outnumber boys in all extracurricular activities except for sports and hobby clubs, according to the 1996 Digest of Educational Statistics.

• More boys than girls drop out of school, according to the 1992 Digest of Education Statistics, and boys are more likely to be robbed, threatened or attacked.

• And although girls are four to five times more likely than boys to attempt suicide, boys succeed more often -- for a suicide rate of 21.9 boys per 100,000 ages 15 to 24 compared with 4.2 girls per 100,000.

The gender war is over, says Parker.

Source: Kathleen Parker (Orlando Sentinel), "Boys Became Casualties in Gender War," Dallas Morning News, June 10, 1999.