Students of both genders in country areas were also struggling,with more than 50 per cent of students in very remote areas at or below the standard.
"The implicit understanding that students have become reasonably independent in writing by year 10 appears problematic,"said the review,released on Friday.
"At a deeper level,if writing is understood to be a key means through which students learn in all curriculum areas,then the data point to how year 9 student whose writing is assessed as below NMS are likely to face significant barriers to success in senior schooling."
Damon Thomas,a senior lecturer in English Education at the University of Tasmania,said there were many questions about the reliability and quality of the NAPLAN writing test,but the disparity between gender was large and consistent.
"It's such a significant gap,"he said."Looking at the scores on the writing test ... the greatest predictor is gender. It doesn't matter what school you're going to or your parents'education,since NAPLAN started,it's your gender.
"In high school you have these pretty drastic gaps. It's important that we think about what might be behind this gap."Boys tended to outperform girls in maths,but that gap was much narrower,Dr Thomas said.