Gender

Question 1

facts related to DEA between different genders

Answer 1

30% more females go to university than males
girls do better than boys in school, especially in English (wide gape), smaller gap within science and maths
in 1980s boys used to outperform girls but now that boys are more domestic
in the 1980s the national curriculum was introduced (girls did the same subjects as boys)
-> from this point girls’ GCSEs results got better

Question 2

Reasons for improvement in girls’ achievement

Answer 2

external factors, internal factors

Question 3

External factors and girls’ achievement

Answer 3

influence of feminism, changes in the family, changes in women’s employment, girls changing aspirations, class gender and ambition

Question 4

The influence of feminism

Answer 4

> feminists have had an impact on women’s rights and opportunities through campaigns to win changes in the law e.g. equal pay
feminist ideas are likely to have affected girls’ self image and aspirations, as a result they are motivated to do well in education
feminists challenged the traditional stereotypes of a woman’s role as a mother/housewife in a patriarchal nuclear family

Question 5

Girls changing aspirations

Answer 5

Sharpe - in 1970s girls’ priorities were being a housewife, they had low aspirations as it was deemed unattractive, 1990 girls started to have higher aspirations
In order to achieve independence and self sufficiency, many girls now recognise that they need a good education. These aspirations require educational qualifications.

Question 6

Changes in the family

Answer 6

increase in divorce rates, more lone parent families about 90% are female headed
Daughters get inspired to do better in education as she has a strong role model (female headed lone families). Mother is seen as a financially independent women, to achieve this independence women need well paid jobs and therefore good qualifications

Question 7

Changes in women’s employment

Answer 7

1970 Equal Pay Act and the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act gave women more employment rights
since 1975 the pay gap between men and women has halved
As a result of these changes, girls today have more incentive to see their future in terms of paid work and this creates an incentive for them to gain qualifications

Question 8

Class, gender and ambition

Answer 8

Some wc girls continue to have gender stereotyped aspirations for marriage and children and expect to go into traditional low paid women’s work. Diane Reay (1998) argues this reflects the reality of girls’ class position. Biggart (2002) found that wc girls are more likely to see motherhood as the only viable option for their futures.
Fuller - found some girls aimed for a professional career to support themselves, but many wc girls with poor job prospects have stereotyped aspirations for marriage and children (an attainable traditional identity that offers status)

Question 9

Internal factors and girls’ achievement

Answer 9

equal opportunities policies, role models, opportunities, stereotypes in learning materials, teacher attention, selection and league tables, identity/class and girls’ achievement, successful wc girls

Question 10

Equal opportunities policies

Answer 10

Feminist ideas are now widespread and this spread the basic belief in gender equality and that boys and girls are equally capable and should have the same opportunities (social norm within education)
GIST and WISE encourage girls into science and technology
The National Curriculum 1988 - boys and girls study the same subjects
education is now more meritocratic, now that girls have more opportunity to be able to do better

Question 11

Role models

Answer 11

more female teachers and head teachers than in the past
the presence of more teachers ‘feminises’ the learning environment and encourages girls to see school as part of a female ‘gender domain

Question 12

Coursework (Gorard/Mitsos and Browne)

Answer 12

Gorard found that the gender gap in achievement was fairly constant from 1975 until 1989, this was the year in which GCSEs was introduced
Mitsos and Browne (1998) concluded that girls are more successful in coursework because they are more conscientious and better organised than boys.
Girls spend more time on their work and care about presentation and meeting deadlines

Question 13

Why do girls generally have better developed language skills?

Answer 13

It is a result of early gender role socialisation in the family, girls are more likely to be encouraged to be neat, tidy and patient. These qualities become an advantage in today’s assessment system, helping girls achieve more than boys

Question 14

Stereotypes in learning material

Answer 14

since the 1980s many sexist images have been removed and replaced with more positive and inclusive images of females, this may have an impact on girls’ perceptions of what women can do and thus raise their aspirations

Question 15

Teacher attention - Spender

Answer 15

teachers interact with boys and girls differently, found that teachers spent more time interacting with boys than girls
French and French - boys received more attention due to behaviour
Francis - boys are disciplined harshly and felt teachers picked on them and had lower expectations
Swann - boys dominate class discussions whereas girls prefer group work and are better at listening and cooperating, this finds favour with teachers who respond more positively to girls and give them more encouragement

Question 16

Selection and league tables

Answer 16

has improved opportunities for girls: high achieving girls are attractive to schools, whereas low achieving boys aren’t. This tends to create a self fulfilling prophecy because girls are more likely to be recruited by good schools and they are more likely to do well. Boys are 4x more likely to be excluded as a result boys may be seen as ‘liability students’
liberal fems welcome the progress made by equal opportunities policies, radical fems are more critical

Question 17

Identity, class and girls’ achievement

Answer 17

Archer - wc girls underachieve because of a conflict between their feminine identities and school habitus
gain symbolic capital from peers by conforming to a wc feminine identity, or gain educational capital (qualifications) by conforming to the schools mc notions of the ideal female pupil

Question 18

Hyper heterosexual feminine identities

Answer 18

many girls construct ‘glamorous’ identities that earn symbolic capital from their female peers but cause conflict with school over their appearance, the school commits symbolic violence defining the girls’ culture as worthless

Question 19

‘Successful’ wc girls

Answer 19

Although some wc girls do succeed, Evans found that they may still be disadvantages by their gender and class identities, Girls want to go to university to increase their earning and help their families
- they choose to live at home, reflecting their wc feminine habitus, but the cost of living away and fear of debt is a further reason, and this limited their choices and future earning power

Question 20

External factors - Boys’ underachievement

Answer 20

Literacy, Globalisation and decline of traditional ‘men’s jobs’, Lack of role models at home, Crisis of masculinity/changing employment, gender role socialisation

Question 21

Literacy

Answer 21

parents are less likely to read to boys than girls (seen as a feminine activity)
boys leisure interests (sports, gaming) don’t encourage language and communication skills
gaming restricts your patient, boys find things boring very quickly (boys tend to like science and maths more because it gives you and answer straight away in comparison to english)

Question 22

Globalisation and decline of traditional ‘men’s jobs’

Answer 22

since 1980s globalisation has led to much manufacturing industry relocating to developing countries, leading to a decline in heavy industries like shipbuilding, mining and manufacturing in the UK
some argue that the resulting decline in male employment opportunities had led to a male ‘identity crisis’ with a loss of motivation and self esteem. Many boys now believe they have little prospect of getting jobs and so cease trying to get qualifications

Question 23

Lack of male role models at home

Answer 23

The increase in the number of female headed lone parent families (around 1.5 mil) means that now many boys grow up lacking a positive role model who goes out to work to support a family. These boys may less likely to see the value or employment and therefore also qualifications.
However, they may feel the need to step up as the man and this encourages them to get qualifications but in this case it usually leads to them dropping out and finding a job to support their family.

Question 24

Crisis of Masculinity/Changing employment

Answer 24

their behaviour is being challenged so they don’t know how to be, they also don’t know what jobs to do, boys jobs are becoming a lot more technical

Question 25

Gender role socialisation

Answer 25

boys are expected to achieve at all times (not to cry and to pick themselves up) Bravado - thinking they are the best

Question 26

Internal factors - boys educational achievement

Answer 26

Feminisation of education, Shortage of male primary school teachers, Laddish subcultures

Question 27

Feminisation of education

Answer 27

boys are socialised in a way that doesn’t suit schools, feminine qualities/skills (being obedient, listening, being neat)
Sewell argue that schools no longer nurture ‘masculine’ traits e.g. competitiveness and leadership
women are entering male professions but males are not entering female professions

Question 28

Shortage of male primary school teachers

Answer 28

male teachers are better at disciplining boys, more successful in making them work hard, only small minority are male and some have no male teachers at all, boys don’t see education as a male pursuit
only 1 in 8 primary school teachers are men and about 40% of 8-11 yr old boys have no lessons with a male teacher, this may give boys the idea that education is a feminine activity

Question 29

Laddish subcultures

Answer 29

boys labelled as neeks for trying too hard, to avoid being gay they reject schoolwork and boys have to do more to prove masculinity
wc cultures sees non manual work (including schoolwork) as effeminate and inferior
Epstein - pro school wc boys were likely to be harassed and labelled as gay and subjected to verbal abuse

Question 30

Is there a biological difference between males and females?

Answer 30

• girls brains develop earlier than boys, sociologists say that girls brains are socialised better for the education system which is why they are develop earlier
• some people argue that boys mature later than girls

Question 31

Gender and subject choice

Answer 31

national curriculum, post 16 education, vocational subjects

Question 32

National curriculum

Answer 32

most subjects are compulsory, where choice is possible girls and boys choose differently e.g girls choose food tech and boys choose resistant materials

Question 33

Post 16 education

Answer 33

more choices available and big gender differences emerge
boys opt for maths and physics whilst girls choose english and sociology

Question 34

Vocational subjects

Answer 34

gender segregation is at its greatest, only 11% of construction apprentices are female

Question 35

The male gaze

Answer 35

a form of social control where male pupils and teachers look girls up and down as sexual objects, boys who don’t participate are labelled as ‘gay’ (also a form of social control)

Question 36

Double standards

Answer 36

boys boast about their own sexual exploits but label girls negatively for the same behaviour