Here is an article from The Wall Street Journal with some interesting statistics.
According to a recent report from the Center on Education Policy, for example, substantially more boys than girls score below the proficiency level on the annual National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test. This disparity goes back to 1992, and in some states the percentage of boys proficient in reading is now more than ten points below that of girls. The male-female reading gap is found in every socio-economic and ethnic category, including the children of white, college-educated parents.
There is no literacy gap between home-schooled boys and girls.
Although the writer of the article says that last part is unanswerable, I have a theory; Non-homeschooled boys are taught by their peers (perhaps subconsciously) that reading is for girls. Homeschooled boys aren’t taught this, and homeschooling parents put more time and effort into making sure boys are reading.
By the way, let me say in response to the rest of the article that I do not think parents should “take away” video games, but should make sure there is a good reading to video game time ratio.