Feminists

Question 1

What is the Feminist view on Education?

Answer 1

Education is an agent of socialisation and its purpose is to socialise women into taking inferior roles in society.

Question 2

Spender

Answer 2

Education reinforces the idea of a man being the worker in the family. Research showed that boys dominated teacher’s time and attention in class. Spender argues focus on the boys rather than girls reflected the notion that boys needed their education for a job whereas girls didn’t need a good education as they were to work in the household. Also, boys were allowed to make rude and abusive comments towards girls.

Question 3

Heaton and Lawson

Answer 3

Education socialises women into their stereotypical gender roles. Heaton and Lawson state it does this through the hidden curriculum. E.g books and textbooks portray women as dependent on men and as the caregiver. Eg subjects such as cooking aimed at girls. The education system teaches girls to to adopt this role. Education system socialises girls into adopting a mode of behaviour accepted by patriarchal society.

Question 4

Kelly

Answer 4

Education makes women feel inferior to men, Kelly states that this reinforces the patriarchy present in today’s society. For example, gendered language such as ‘his’ and ‘men’ in textbooks makes women feel subordinate to men as within the education system there is less focus on them.

Question 5

Heaton and Lawson Evaluation

Answer 5

But primary school teachers are mostly female, making the notion that education socialised women into their stereotypical gender role unlikely as they are seeing many women working on a day to day basis. Although, there still remains more male headteachers.

(Marxists argue that the hidden cirriculum is specific to the ruling class, not the values of men. Upper class girls have more opportunities than lower class boys- Bowles and Gintis)

Question 6

Spender Evaluation

Answer 6

But policies such as GIST and WISE encourage women to enter areas of the workplaces underrepresented by women.

(Functionalists would point out that school is beneficial for all groups and not just boys. Durkheim argues that in school we learn values that bind all social groups together in society).

Question 7

Kelly Evaluation

Answer 7

And yet girls are receiving more A*-C grade GCSEs than boys in all subjects except from Maths.

(Postmodernists)