This article analyzes the differences in academic performance due to gender within the minority group from Sub-Saharan Africa. Using the statistical data from Quebec’s Ministry of Education on the June 1996, 1999 and 2000 standardized tests, the 1996 census data on the education level of the primary ethnocultural groups in Quebec and interviews, the article shows that girls perform better than boys in this group in Quebec. The higher academic results achieved by the girls and the fact that the boys are falling back is not however a continuum, it is the result of identity shift. Devalued and disadvantaged in their countries of origin, the academic performance of girls is low compared to that of boys in the same conditions. Emancipated in Quebec, the transition is remarkable in the Quebec school system: they have the upper hand on the boys in this academic environment side by side. That success is incumbent on an identity shift upon contact with a universe that is based on the principle of equality under the law with its derivatives: equality of opportunities, dignity, etc. One might say that the performance of each is attributable to the identity path in which socialization and gender referents play a significant role. Among the boys, the splintered male referent gives rise to fragmented identity paths, while the consistent and inclusive female referent generates a common and motivating female model.