Educational research in the Nordic countries has for decades shown a gender-gap inknowledge. Girls perform better than boys, especially in reading and writing. This paper is asystematic literature study with a qualitative approach. Eleven peer reviewed articles havebeen analysed. The aim was to find out how middle school students in the Nordic countries’performance is affected by gender roles and inequality in the language subjects, with a focuson reading and writing skills in a possible opposite relationship to mathematics. The mainquestion in this study has thus been: How do gender roles affect boys' and girls' performancein the language subject? With the follow-up questions: What gender differences can we seebetween students in their reading and writing skills, as well as in an opposite relationship tomathematics? How do students experience the support in the language subject and are thereany gender differences? How do gender roles affect students' participation, autonomy andwell-being in school – what is the teacher's role? The results show that girls work moreefficiently at school than boys, both individually and in groups. The driving force seems to getgood reviews and grades. Additionally, they are disturbed by a messy environment in thesame way as boys. For boys, it is important that they experience the subject as fun. It has beenshown that teacher support outweighs socio-economic background and parents' education andis important for the student's well-being at school. There are norms and static positioning inthe school that both teachers and students follow, where boys are often expected to take anegative positioning. Girls receive support to a greater extent than boys. Girls also placegreater value on having a good relationship with their teachers, as well as their classmates.Nevertheless, boys are more afraid of exclusion and of being left behind. Therefore they usestereotypes such as "the male genius" as protection. PISA results show that girls performhigher in reading and writing tests, both in Nordic countries but also internationally. Boys runa greater risk of ending up among the 10% lowest achievers, as well as the lowest competencein fluent reading. Girls read more often for pleasure, and spend more time on doinghomework. However, there is no clear picture as to why this is so.