Education- Gender: Internal factors

Question 1

What % of girls versus boys gained 5 or more GCSEs in 2019?

Answer 1

62.9% of boys vs 71% of girls

Question 2

Cohen

Answer 2

Girls had outperformed boys in the early years of schooling since mass education was introduced in the UK. However, girls didn’t have the same opportunities and didn’t have the incentive that boys had to do well.
Before 1877, no British Uni accepted female students. Women were first awarded degrees in 1920 at Oxford.

Question 3

Triparte System (1964)

Answer 3

IQ test at age 11, if you did well, you would go to a Grammar School and study for academic qualifications. If you did less well, you received a vocational certificate. Girls tended to do better in the exam than boys, but there were the same number of places for girls as boys, so girls had to achieve higher marks to be accepted.

Question 4

McRobbie

Answer 4

Media messages from girls magazines in the 1970s that emphasised the importance of getting married, but new magazines showed assertive women, providing more positive role models to young girls.

Question 5

Edwards and Davies

Answer 5

Differences in gender socialisation give girls an initial advantage in primary and secondary schools as they are taught to sit still and behave well, whereas boys have to “run around to burn of their energy”. This tends to create a patriarchal environment in the classroom, as the willingness of boys to break the rules create a male centred classroom.

Question 6

Burns and Bracey

Answer 6

Girls are putting in more effort into homework, are better organised and are more willing to draft and redraft assignments. Girls tend to read more than boys which helps them succeed in subjects requiring the use of language.

Question 7

Wilkinson

Answer 7

Jobs for women have expanded, and women now have the means to be financially independent so have the incentive to work hard. Their goals are no longer child and family centred, Wilkinson called this shift “Genderquake”.

Question 8

Sharpe

Answer 8

Interviewed girls in the 1970s then in the 1990s and saw that their future aspirations had changed. In 1976, girls prioritised marriage and children, but in 1994 they prioritised their careers.