changing attitudes/workplace aspirations

Question 1

mitsos and browne

Answer 1

• use statistics on achieve,ent to argue that boys are underachieving in the education system, yet they also believe that girls are disadvantaged through their subject choices and life chances
• mitsos and browne adopt a balanced posiyion drawing on reasons for improvements in girls achievement and reasons for adopt underachievement

Question 2

sharpe

Answer 2

• conducted interviews to show how girls priorities have changed
• in 70s they focused on ‘love marriage and husbands anc careers’
• however by the 90s women were focusing more on ‘job, career and being able to support themselves’ making them: more confident, more assertive, more ambitious and more committed to gender equality
• being career focused meant that they worked harder in education to ensure they could be successful
• education was sen as the main route to get a good job and financial independence

Question 3

francis and skelton

Answer 3

• the majority of pupils in both primary and secondary schools saw their future identity in terms of their careers, rather than seeing emplyment as simply a stopgap before marriage
• also found that girls, especially in middle class families, were under increasing pressure from parents to achieve exam success

Question 4

beck

Answer 4

• risk society
• argues that we are moving into an era of second modernity in which society is characterised by greater risk and uncertainty
• this can be seen in greater concern about the risks of divorce and relationship breakdown and also of loss of jobs
• people have become more individualised, meaning that they are more concerned about their own personal needs and are more self-suffient and self-reliant, this is particularly apparent in the attitudes of women who beck sees as ‘setting the pace for change’
• the changing attitudes of women to education and employment can be seen as part of this process
• young people are putting their women financial independence first and are more wary of the risks associated with marriage and economic dependence on a husband