The aim of the paper is to investigate, in the light of the Nordic PISA data, possibilities of reducing the gender gap through examining the effect that various reading interest and activity factors have on students' reading literacy performance. The initial results of PISA as many previous studies suggested that voluntary reading activities and performance reinforce one another. The initial results pointed out, in particular, that gender differences in favour of females are associated with voluntary reading activities. There appeared to be only limited engagement in reading among 15-year-old males beyond what is required of them at school. This was also typical of the group in the Nordic countries. With a view to revealing and, finally, to reducing the gender gap in reading literacy performance, we conducted some further analyses and exploited a two-level regression model on the Nordic PISA data to examine the change in the gender differences in reading literacy performance by controlling for those reading interest and activity factors which showed the strongest discriminating impact on reading achievement. After examining which factors have the strongest effect on reducing the gender gap, we also investigated how the situation would change if these factors were controlled simultaneously. The factors included in the combined model were as follows: Engagement in reading, Reading fiction frequently, Self- concept in reading, and Student's effort and perseverance. Controlling for these factors simultaneously, we constructed statistically an imaginary situation where boys and girls were evenly engaged in reading; boys and girls read fiction as frequently in their leisure time; boys' self-concept was as strong as that of girls; and boys and girls showed equal effort and perseverance with regard to reading. The findings revealed that in this imaginary situation the gender gap disappeared, as it did in Denmark, or at least reduced significantly as was the case in all the other Nordic countries. In our view, finding out the factors that most strongly reduced the gender gap can help us in pedagogical development so as to promote equal opportunities for both genders. How far such a new pedagogy can be developed in Nordic or international co- operation is discussed in the end of the paper.