EDUCATION - EXTERNAL Gender differences in education Flashcards
FEMINISM
how changes have led to gender differences
McRobbie
since the 1960s, the feminist movement has challenged the traditional stereotypes of women and their role within society.
radical feminists argue in particular that we have not yet reached equality between the sexes but it has had monumental success in improving women’s rights and opportunities through changes within the law.
feminism has raised the expectations women have of a relationship and their role within the family and education.
this can be seen through the images Angela McRobbie collated in her study of girls magazines - in the 1970s, they stressed marriage and being ‘left on the shelf’ whereas in the 1990s onwards, they mostly assert independent women.
CHANGING AMBITION
how changes have led to gender differences
Sue Sharp
changing ambitions can be seen through Sue Sharp’s interview with girls in the 1970s and 1990s where such significant progression can be seen in less than two decades.
in the 1974 interviews, the girls had low aspirations, and they believed that educational success was not feminine or attractive.
they prioritised love, marriage, husbands, jobs, and careers… more or less in that order.
by the 1996 set of interviews, their ambitions changed and they wanted careers and shape themselves academically.
CHANGING AMBITIONS
O’Connor’s study
2006 study of 14-17 year olds found that marriage and children were not a major part of their life goals or plans
CHANGING AMBITIONS
Beck and Gernsheim
B+G link Sharp’s evidence to the growing trend of individualism in modern society where independent is valued much more than in the past.
careers have become projects for women because they offer recognition and self-sufficiency.
many girls now acknowledge they need a good education to be successful.
CHANGING AMBITIONS
Carol Fuller 2011
her study found that educational success was integral to girls’ identity because they saw themselves as orchestrators of their future.
they were fond of ideas of meritocracy… these aspirations required qualifications, though the aspirations of the 1974 girls did not require academic achievement.
CHANGES IN THE FAMILY
how changes have led to gender differences
there has been an overall increase in divorce rates.
there has been an increase in cohabitation and a decrease in the number of first marriages.
there has been an increase in the number of lone-parent families.
increases in the number of female-headed and lone-parent families allow girls to normalise that women can also take on the breadwinning role. further, to have financial security, they must have good qualifications and so have to study hard.
EMPLOYMENT
what laws have contributed towards change?
1970 Equal Pay Act made it illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value.
1975 Sex Discrimination Act outlawed discrimination at work.
1975 onwards, the gender pay gap between men and women has halved to 15% and the proportion of women in employment has increased significantly.
EMPLOYMENT
how have changes led to gender differences?
growth of the service sector and the flexible part-time work role has offered opportunities for women to grow.
women are now breaking through the glass ceiling and are accessing higher levels of career…. better career opportunities and pay has encouraged girls and has given them an incentive to work harder to gain academic qualifications
MEDIA
What does the new law from the Committee of Advertising Practice say?
after coming into force in June 2019, the law dictates that:
(advert) must not include gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious widespread offence.
EMPLOYMENT
Employment rates
53% employment of women in 1971 and 73% employment rate in 2020.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS
Starting school
2013, teacher assessments of pupils at the end of the year showed girls were ahead of boys between 7 to 17% points in all second areas of assessment e.g., literacy and numeracy.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS
GCSE
in 2020, 72% of boys passed their gcse’s, and 80% of girls passed their gcse’s.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS
A-level
At A-level, there is only a 3.9% point gap in the A*-C achievement rate between girls and boys.
2022 APRIL - Katharine Birbalsingh
govt social mobility advisor, Katharine Birbalsingh (labelled Britain’s strictest teacher) said in a committee of MPs (aiming to boost diversity in science) that girls are less likely to choose physics A-Level because it involved ‘hard maths’.
she said 16% of A-Level pupils at her school were girls, but that she wasn’t actively campaigning for this to go up.
Institute of Physics said it was alarmed by the comments.
