Education: Gender identity and subject choice Flashcards
Define sex
Whether a person is a man or a woman is based on their biological physical features. W = female. M = male.
Define Gender
Socially constructed characteristics given to women and men. W = feminine. M = masculine.
Factors that form gender identities (6)
Verbal abuse
Male peer groups
Female peer groups
Teachers and discipline
The male gaze
Double standards
Factors that affect subject choice (4)
Primary socialisation
Gendered subject images
Peer pressure
Gendered career opportunities
Verbal abuse
Paetcher, Connell
Connell – boys use verbal abuse such as name calling to put girls down.
Paetcher – boys use name calling of girls and ‘effeminate’ boys (especially prone to suffering homophobic abuse) to maintain male power and reinforce gender norms.
Male peer groups
Epstein and Willis, Mac an Ghaill
Epstein and Willis – boys in counter-school subcultures see high achieving boys as effeminate. Mac an Ghaill – working class boys’ understanding of masculinity is tied in with toughness and being macho. They bully any hard working boys. Middle class boys’ masculinity is tied in with effortless achievement and being a ‘real Englishman’. However, working class boys who go onto 6th Form change their identity from macho to real Englishman.
Teachers and discipline
Haywood and Mac an Ghaill, Askew and Ross
Haywood and Mac an Ghaill – male teachers tend to tease boys if they do less well in exams than girls. They tend not to discipline boys if they verbally abuse the girls.
Askew and Ross – male teachers have a protective attitude towards female teachers thus reinforcing the view that women are weak.
Male gaze
Is the way in which men look women up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and judging them on their appearance.
Male gaze at school reinforces the boys’ masculinity by devaluing femininity and helps keep girls ‘in their place’.
Double standards
Lees
Lees – boys boast about and exaggerate their sexual prowess, while girls who are seen as dressing provocatively are labelled as ‘slags’.
So there is a double standard in expectations of boys and girls’ behaviour.
Female peer groups
Currie, Reay
Girls use shaming as a form of social control against each other thus regulating each other’s identities.
- Currie found that girls risk either being labelled as sluts and excluded from friendship groups is they seem too competitive over boys. Similarly, girls who do not complete for boys face frigid shaming.
- Reay found that girls who want to do well at school project a boffin identity which is characterised by a lack of interest in boys or popular culture
Socialisation
Norman, Byrne
Norman – from an early age, boys and girls are dressed differently and given different toys. Parents tend to reward boys for being active and girls for being passive.
Byrne – this continues at school where teachers encourage boys to be active and tough, while girls are expected to be quiet and helpful.
Browne and Ross – gender domains – activities boys and girls see as appropriate to their sex, e.g. mending a car = boys’ domain.
This affects how they react to specific tasks, e.g. girls find Maths tasks easier if they are about calculating the price of food.
Gendered subject images
Kelly
Different subjects are seen as either boys or girls’ subjects.
Kelly – science = boys’ subject because – teachers tend to be men, textbooks use examples which appeal to masculine gender domains, boys monopolise the use of equipment.
Students in same sex schools tend to hold less stereotyped images of subjects so in an all girls school, students are more likely to pick sciences, ICT
Peer pressure
Peer pressure can encourage or discourage students from taking certain subjects, e.g. boys tend not to choose Drama, Dance or Music for fear of a negative reaction from their peers. Similarly, girls tend not to choose Sport.
Gendered career opportunities
Most jobs are either seen as women’s or men’s.
Women’s jobs – those which involve caring and reflect the activities of housewives – childcare, nursing, secretarial,…
This can affect subject choice as it gives students ideas about which jobs are suitable and acceptable for which sex.
Working class female underachievement
Working class girls tend to underachieve in comparison to middle class girls.
Archer et al argue this is because of the differences between the w/c girls’ identities and the values promoted by the school.
w/c girls’ identities and self-worth are based on three things:
Hyper-sexualised femininity – created through clothing, hairstyles and make up.
Boyfriends – having a boyfriend gained the girls symbolic capital from their friends, but it distracted them from their school work and gave them lower, more traditional aspirations of settling down.
Being loud – being outspoken, independent and assertive.
These factors gains them symbolic capital (status) in the eyes of their peers. However, it brings them into conflict with the school, e.g. they were often punished for wearing too much jewellery or make up.
Therefore, these girls face the dilemma – they can either conform to their friends’ expectations and gain symbolic capital from them (which then causes them to fail), or gain educational capital by rejecting their working class identity.
