EDUCATION 1.4 : GENDER

Question 1

what was the gender gap?

Answer 1

○ Primary school:
§ Shows that girls are ahead of boy between 7%-17% points.
○ Key Stage 1-3:
§ In English, the gender gap widens by age as girls are more likely to concentrate for longer time periods than boys.
○ GCSE:
§ The gender gap stands at 10% points
○ AS/A Levels:
§ The gender gap is narrower but girls are more likely to achieve A/B grades more than boys.
○ Vocational courses:
A large proportion of girls get a distinction more on subjects such as construction and engineering GCSE:

Question 2

EXTERNAL FACTOR 1: IMPACT OF FEMINISM

Answer 2

○ Feminists have challenged traditional stereotypes of a women’s role and so are fighting for women’s rights.
○1970s- magazines abt having families/ relationships
but in modern day magazines show strong working female role models (inspiration)
》no longer need to be bound to “housewives” “mothers”
○ Radical feminists said that there is not yet full equality between both sexes but there is a march of progress towards equality.
§ McRobbie says that this is reflected in the mass media which helps to explain the improvements of girl’s educational success.

Question 3

EXTERNAL FACTOR 2: CHANGES IN FAMILY

Answer 3

○ They have been major family changes over the last century, which has led to family diversity, which includes:
§ Increase in divorce
§ Increase in cohabitation
§ Increase in lone-parent families
§ Smaller family sizes
§ decline in marriage rates
§ decline in birth rates
○ This affects a girl’s attitude towards education as some girls do not aspire to become housewives and mothers and so will need a well-paid job and an educational qualification.

Question 4

EXTERNAL FACTOR 3: CHANGES IN WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT

Answer 4

○ The Equal Pay Act 1970 makes it illegal to pay women less but women are getting paid 90.9% of men’s earning from working the same for the same number of hours.
○ 1975 Sex Discrimination Act
(prohibits sexual discrimination in the workplace)
○The number of employed women has increased from 47% to over 70%, which means that they are breaking through the glass ceiling.
§ The pay gap has decreased from 30% to 17%.

Question 5

EXTERNAL FACTOR 4: GIRL’S CHANGING AMBITIONS

Answer 5

○ Sharpe (1994) argues that there has been a major shift of perception for girl’s ambition.
§ She did two studies, one in 1974 and one in 1994, and found that girls used to think that educational success was unfeminine, but then their ambition has changed and do want educational.
○O’connor (2006) that marriage & children weren’t major life plans anymore.

Question 6

EVALUATION OF EXTERNAL FACTORS- (counter points)

Answer 6

●changing isn’t true for all girls e.g. w/c girls haven’t got a choice & will do more ‘gendered aspirations’
●Reay (1998) - ambitions are linked to opportunities
●Biggart (2002) - w/c girls more likely to have motherhood as their option

Question 7

INTERNAL FACTOR 1: EQUAL OPPORTUNTIES POLICIES

Answer 7

○ The government is now more aware of gender issues and stereotypes.
》This means that the introduction of the National Curriculum removed barriers for education as pupils will have to take the same subjects, and so it has become more meritocratic.
§ This encouraged girls to pursue non-traditional subjects such as maths and physics= pursuing non-traditional careers!
》GIST (Girls Into Science & Technology)
》WISE (Women into Science & Engineering)
○ Boaler (1998) argues that this has removed the barriers for girl’s educational achievement and has broken through the glass ceiling.

Question 8

INTERNAL FACTOR 2: POSITIVE ROLE MODELS IN SCHOOL

Answer 8

○ There’s been an increase in female teachers, and so they act as a positive role model.
》female primary= 87%
》female highschool= 66%
》female primary head= 74%
》female hs head=40%
○ They are likely to be important role models, which means that girls look up to them to do well in the education system.
§ This can have an impact on the gender domain/ territory.

Question 9

INTERNAL FACTOR 3: GCSES AND COURSEWORK

Answer 9

○ Mitsos and Browne argue that girls are more likely to succeed in coursework. This is because of their gender identity.
○ Elwood argues that it is unlikely that this is the only reason for the gender gap between boys and girls.
○ Gorard (2005) found that the gender gap was consistent, but then it increased sharply when GCSEs and coursework were introduced.

Question 10

INTERNAL FACTOR 4: TEACHER AMBITION

Answer 10

○ Spender found that teachers spent more time on boys, and French found that the amount of attention was similar in her study.
○ Francis argues that boys are disciplined harshly and have low expectations.
○ Swann and Graddol found that boys are boisterous, and so it attracts male gazes.
● EVALUATION- girls are being ignored over boys and leads to their underachievement

Question 11

INTERNAL FACTOR 5: CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES IN THE CURRICULUM

Answer 11

○ Weiner argues that teachers challenge stereotypes for girls to take non-traditional subjects.
○ Argue that the removal of textbooks, learning materials, and schemes have removed these barriers.
§ Sexist images are removed from textbooks, and so this has helped to raise girl’s achievement and aren’t just limited to being housewives

Question 12

INTERNAL FACTOR 6: SELECTION AND LEAGUE TABLES

Answer 12

○ marketisation policies have meant girls are more likely favoured by schools
○ Jackson (1998) - league tables make high achieving girls attractive》self-fulfilling
○Slee (1998) - boys seen as ‘liability students’ & are less attractive due to behavioural difficulties = exclusions
》boys end up creating a bad image for themselves

Question 13

HOW do LIBERAL FEMINISTS see gender differences in educational achievement?

Answer 13

○ they celebrate progress being made, and further progress shown from equal opportunity policies

Question 14

give 4 ways RADICAL FEMINISTS say school is patriarchal:

Answer 14

○ sexual harassment within schools
○ girl’s limited subject and career choices
○more male secondary heads
○ women ignored in curriculum e.g. history in comparison to ethnocentric

Question 15

SYMBOLIC CAPITAL- HOW does this affect working class girls’ educational achievement?

Answer 15

• Archer et al (2010) found that symbolic capital is one of the reasons for the differences in working-class identity and school values.
○ He found that by performing working-class identity will gain symbolic capital.
• Working-class girls may face putting on a hyper-heterosexual feminine identity.
○They’re faced with either gaining symbolic capital or educational capital and will have to give up one to gain the other.

Question 16

HYPER-HETEROSEXUAL FEMININE IDENTITIES:

Answer 16

• These girls invest time, money, and effort into creating a glamorous and desirable identity.
○ They are mostly working-class who does this to impress boys.
• This is constructed into conflict with the school and saw this as a distraction into educational success.
》This can lead to symbolic violence.
• Archer sees this from the school’s values and norms on the ideal female pupil.

Question 17

BOYFRIENDS:

Answer 17

• These girls gain symbolic capital from having ‘boyfriends’, and so it is a distraction to educational success & decrease their aspirations for the future.
》They aspire to get married and so want to be a housewife and a mother.

Question 18

BEING “LOUD” :

Answer 18

○These girls have adopted a ‘loud’ feminine identity where they would distract the class and defeats the stereotypes of ‘quiet and submissive’
》They’ll fail to conform to stereotypes, and so conflict occurs with teachers & so is then far from ‘ideal student”

Question 19

SUCCESSFUL WORKING CLASS GIRLS:

Answer 19

○Evans (2009) found that girls wants to go to earning power to help their families.
○Girls in university are disadvantaged by gender and class identities.
》This reflects working-class feminine identity and Skeggs argue that caring is a crucial role of their identity.
• Economic necessity was a reason to stay because of debt averse.
》This limits choices of university and the market value.

Question 20

EXTERNAL FACTOR (BOYS) 1: BOYS AND LITERACY

Answer 20

• Boys and literacy:
○ DCSF (2007) argue that the gender gap is a result of boy’s poor literacy and language skills
○ Their leisure pursuit does little to boy’s literacy skills which is likely to affect boy’s achievement.
○ The government has introduced policies to boost boy’s educational achievement.

Question 21

EXTERNAL FACTOR (BOYS) 2: GLOBALISATION AND THE DECLINE OF TRADITIONAL MEN’S JOBS

Answer 21

○ There has been a decline in the primary and secondary sector and an increase in the territory sector because of economic globalisation.
§ This leads to an identity crisis of not being masculine.
○ With this, the identity crisis they will underachieve and so will become in the underclass and will turn to criminal.
§ This is mostly traditional manual working-class jobs.
Mitsos and Browne argue that the decline in the primary sector has lowered opportunities for boys

Question 22

INTERNAL FACTOR (BOYS) 1: FEMINISATION OF EDUCATION

Answer 22

• Feminisation of education:
○ Sewell reported that boys falls because the education system has become meritocratic
○ Sees coursework as a major cause of gender differences of achievement because girls are successful in them.
○ They do not nurture masculine traits but celebrates feminine traits.

Question 23

INTERNAL FACTOR (BOYS) 2: SHORTAGE OF MALE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Answer 23

• Shortages of male teachers:
○ The lack of strong positive role models shows a cause of boy’s achievement.
○ DfEs (2007) argue that 16% of teachers in primary school are male.
§ YouGov (2007) found that 39% of students does not have male teachers.
○EVALUATION》However, critics argue that this approach is too simplistic.

Question 24

INTERNAL FACTOR (BOYS) 3: “LADDISH” CULTURES

Answer 24

• Feminisation of education:
○ Sewell reported that boys falls because the education system has become meritocratic
○ Sees coursework as a major cause of gender differences of achievement because girls are successful in them.
○ They do not nurture masculine traits but celebrates feminine traits.
• Laddish subcultures:
○ Epstein found that working-class are likely to be harassed, labelled and subjected to homophobic.
○ This supports Francis (2001) as boys are concerned on labelling.
○ Laddish subcultures is becoming widespread because there are masculine areas.
• Shortages of male teachers:
○ The lack of strong positive role models shows a cause of boy’s achievement.
○ DfEs (2007) argue that 16% of teachers in primary school are male.
§ YouGov (2007) found that 39% of students does not have male teachers.
○ However, critics argue that this approach is too simplistic.

Question 25

EVALUATION- WHAT are Read’s conclusions on gender of the teacher?

Answer 25

○ A Disciplinarian Discourse: teacher’s authority made explicit and visible, e.g., shouting
○A Liberal discourse: teacher’s authority implicit and invisible
•OVERALL》education not feminised and female teachers are able to control boy’s behaviour

Question 26

the ‘MORAL PANIC’ about boys:

Answer 26

• Feminist critics argue that policies should no longer be there to boost girl’s educational achievement.
• Ringrose (2013) argues that it has contributed towards moral panic and fear of the boy’s underachievement
• There are two negative impacts (policies that raise boy’s achievement) :
○ They ignore working-class or ethnic minorities groups.
○ They tend to ignore other girl’s problems such as sexual harassment.
• Osler notes that boys underachieving can lead to the neglect of girl because they will boost boy’s achievement.

Question 27

what is GENDER ROLE SOCIALISATION?

Answer 27

○It’s learning behaviour expected in society.
○Ann Oakley (1973) - gender is the learned cultural differences w/ girls & boys through primary socialisation
• Norman (1988) found that early socialisation shapes gender identity- girls & boys dress differently, different toys given and activities

Question 28

what are GENDERED SUBJECT IMAGES?

Answer 28

○Colley (1998) argue that computer science is seen as a male subject because of male gender domain and the way of learning.
○Kelly- science is boy’s subject w/ male teachers
• Leonard (2006) found that girls in single-sex families are likely to choose maths and physics.
○ They tend to hold a less stereotypical image and so helps to explain why they are seen as these subjects.

Question 29

EVALUATION- ON GENDER AND SUBJECT CHOICE

Answer 29

○Spender (1983) argues that schools reinforce gender inequality.
》She concluded that single-sex schools do better in the education system than mixed-schools with less stereotyping - girls do science and boys do english/lang.
[• She found that girls are INVISIBLE, and so this blends into the background.
• Social relations, curriculum content, attitudes, and expectations prepares women for male domination.
• There was evidence of double standards placed as boys are treated with respect.]

Question 30

what is GENDER IDENTITY AND PEER PRESSURE?

Answer 30

• Paechter (1998) found that they see sports as a male gender domain.
○ This contradicts female stereotypes.
• Dewar (1990) found that men call girls lesbians if they are interested in sports.
○ Peer pressure is a powerful influence on gender identity.
○ They can police the subject choices, which adopts appropriate gender identity.
○ The absence of peer groups explains why girls in single-sex are likely to choose male subjects.
- There is less pressure to conform to restrictive stereotypes.

Question 31

what are GENDERED CAREER OPPORTUNTIES?

Answer 31

• The reason for different subject choices is that employment is HIGHLY GENDERED.
• More than 1/2 of women’s employment falls into roles that reinforce stereotypes.
》This can affect the ideas of what jobs are acceptable to explain gender specific courses.

Question 32

what are VOCATIONAL COURSES?

Answer 32

• It is a social-class dimension to the choice of vocational courses, which is based on a traditional sense of identity.
• Fuller (2011) found that girls in childcare/health and beauty arise from work experiences and so are gendered and classed.
》They concluded that schools are stressing towards types of jobs by vocational courses

Question 33

what are DOUBLE STANDARDS?

Answer 33

• This exists when applying one set of moral standards.
• Lees (1993) found that double standards of sexual morality where they are accepted.
- Feminists argue that double standards is an example of patriarchal ideology.

Question 34

what is VERBAL ABUSE?

Answer 34

• Connell calls rich vocabulary of abuse is one way which dominant gender and sexual identities.
• Lees (1986) found that boys call girls slag if they are sexually active.
• Paechter sees name calling to help shape gender identity and maintain male power.
》They note labels often bear no relation to their actual sexual behaviour and undermine women’s ambitions for their future

Question 35

what is the MALE GAZE?

Answer 35

a form of social control where male pupils and teachers look girls up and down as sexual objects to reinforce the dominant heterosexual masculinity
》therefore girls may fulfil boy’s attention and place less value on their education!

Question 36

what are MALE PEER GROUPS?

Answer 36

• They use verbal abuse to reinforce masculinity and so this justifies male power and devalues women as a form of social control.
• Mac an Ghaill (1994) found how peer groups reproduces class masculine identities.
- Working-class macho lads were dismissive and those who worked hard were referred as ‘dickheads’
》boy’s prove to be arrogant!

Question 37

what are FEMALE PEER GROUPS (policing eachother)

Answer 37

• Archer shows that working-class girls can gain symbolic capital from producing a hyper-heterosexual feminine identity.
》 This involves constructing glamorous or sexy appearances but girls end up just judging & policing eachother, lose friendships
• Ringrose (2013) found that being popular is crucial to their identity.
》 They make a transition from a friendship culture to dating culture.
• Currie et al (2007) argue that boys confer symbolic capital and are given a boffin identity

Question 38

what are TEACHERS and DISCIPLINE?

Answer 38

• Haywood and Mac an Ghaill (1996) found that male teachers told boys to not act like girls.
○ They tend to ignore verbal abuse and so they blamed it on the girls
- Askew and Ross (1988) found that male teachers subtly reinforce messages and have protective attitudes
》women are undermined with their power !