Explanations of gender differences for subject choices

Question 1

Gender role socialisation

Answer 1

• Norman says how from an early age boys and girls are taught differently in how to dress, play with toys and do different activities.
• Byrne says teac her encourage boys to be tough and girls to be quiet and clean and helpful.
• Murphy and Elwood argue that this may be the reason for boys and girls developing different tastes.

Question 2

Gender domains: Browne and Ross

Answer 2

• Tasks of how girls and boys prefer to do things
• E.g boys focus on how things work and girls for how feels.

Question 3

Gendered subjects

Answer 3

Colley: says how computing is and it works with machines so is more masculine.
- single sex schools: girls are less likeley to make traditional choices so more girls do maths or science

Question 4

Gender identity and peer pressure

Answer 4

• Subject choices may be influenced by peer pressure. E.g boys drop out of music bcos its feminine subject and has negative peer response.
• females called lesbian for engaging in sport subjects as its masculine
• this shows why single sex school pupils pick less traditional subjects