Gender Flashcards
Common trends
Girls achieve more than boys, but both genders are improving over time.
56% of girls vs. 42% of boys can write their own names when first starting primary school.
70% of SEN (special educational needs) are boys.
There are approximately 10% gender gap in GCSE outcomes.
The impact of feminism - Sue Sharpe
The feminist movement initiated a gender quake.
Sharpe interviewed girls for,s at a secondary school in the 1970s and found that their priorities were ‘love, marriage, husbands, children, career’ in that order. Repeated her research in the 1990s and found that priorities have massively shifted. Succeeding in school and getting a good career was now the main priority. The impact of feminism changed the mindset of girls from one of domesticity to independence and self sufficiency.
Sue Sharpe - criticisms
- can we really be sure that it was the feminist movement that has influenced girls fortunes in school? Girls subject choices remain stereotypically gendered.
- the relatively little progress in working class girls achievement over the years suggests an element of class bias in Sharpe’s research findings.
Changes in the family life
Over 90% of lone parent households are matrifocal. Changes have been seen in family life. A life course of choices and opportunities now exist, resulting in people feeling more liberated from the expectations that they follow past traditions. Some people don’t feel compelled to marry before having children, and the increase in divorce over the years, and the rise of cohabitation means that girls see a further where they aren’t complete,y dependant on men. Young girls grow up recognising the need for them to be skilled, qualified and independent in life, subsequently investing much more in their education, resulting in an acceleration in progress and academic outcomes.
Changes in the workplace
Since the 1960s, there has been an acceleration in the number of women employed, accompanied by a number of changes in the law to provide women with much better protection in the workforce. The 1970 equal pay act makes it illegal for companies to pay women less than men for work of equal value. The 1975 sex discrimination act means that employment has increased from 47% in 1959 to over 70% in 2007. Women are a,so beginning to break the glass ceiling and now more likely to challenge men for the top jobs in companies and organisations.
Changes in the workforce - criticisms
There have been little changes in the gender pay gap over the last 25 years - BBC article from 2021.
Changes in the workforce may not have positively impacted the educational outcome for girls
2021 article: COVID: support ‘repeatedly skewed towards men’, say MPs (Committee chair Caroline Nokes of The Women and Equalities Commitee)
Claims that although ministers had not ‘deliberately designed policies to be sexist’, there had been ‘institutional thoughtlessness’ about their particular impact on women.
During Covid, most childcare and schoolwork was put onto the mother, rather than the father. However, they were still held to the same standards of men, making them lose jobs and have to sacrifice more for the sake of their children. This was negative and unfair, overworking women at all angles.
Louise Archer - urban youth and schooling
The feeling of being valued, worth something and respected comes from the amount of symbolic capital we have. Working class girls symbolic capital can be achieved by adopting a hyper heterosexual identity, containing:
- looking as good as possible
- having a boyfriend
- being desirable to boys
- being loud and confident
These things provide working class girls with an identity they are proud of, however, causing a clash between these girls and schools (symbolic violence). They may put their identity above schoolwork, prioritising symbolic capital over schoolwork, possibly resulting in underachievement and not gaining educational capital.
Internal factors for the overachievement of girls
- equal opportunities
- positive female role models in school
- challenging stereotypes in the curriculum
Equal opportunities policies
The introduction of the national curriculum in 1998 meant that, for the first time, girls and boys had equal access to the taught curriculum. Government initiatives have attempted to promote equality of opportunities further:
- GIST: girls into science and technology
- WISE: women into science and engineering
Positive female role models in school
Female teachers, guest speakers and history now teaches and show a lot more women in high educational fields, therefore inspiring young girls who see these strong women.
Positive female role models in school - criticisms
Roles within school still remain typically ‘gendered’, with most cleansers and lunchtime staff being female.
Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum
Tackling gender stereotypes at school may well facilitate a shift in girls mentality regarding what they are capable for.
Boys achievements - external factors
BBC news: 2016 - boys are 2x as likely to fall behind girls in early years.
- boys literacy skills
- how is leisure time spent?
- globalisation and the decline of the heavy industry
Boys literacy skills
2005- 57% of girls enjoyed reading vs. 46% of boys
2011- 57% of girls enjoyed reading vs. 44% of boys
Approximately 36% of girls read daily vs. 26% of boys. Parents spend less time reading to and with their sons than their daughters.
Boys literacy skills - criticisms
Measures to improve boys engagement with literacy are embedded in many skills. Father and son reading programmes are now put in schools to encourage young boys to read and for them to have a good role model.
How is leisure time spent?
Girls ‘bedroom culture’ unintentionally puts them at an academic advantage. Boys leisure time fails to stimulate intellect in comparison.
How is leisure time spent? - criticisms
There is limited hard evidence to support such claims. Some evidence suggests that boys engagement in sports can facilitate academic success.
Globalisation and the decline of the heavy industry
The long term decline in heavy industry has eroded away from traditional pathway that working class boys once took. A ‘crisis of masculinity’ has emerged, which encourages working class boys to seek new forms of achieving ‘macho’ status. Rejecting school is one such way.
Mac an Ghail - link to the decline of the heavy industry
Working class boys deal with their identity crisis by adopting a ‘macho’ image which involves a subcultural rejection to school values.
Internal factors of boys underachievement
- the feminisation of education
- teacher expectations
- ‘laddish’ subcultures in school
- the shortage of male role models in the early stages of school life
The feminisation of education
There has been a shift away from the competitiveness of sports day and the competition found in the house systems, as schools adopt a ‘everyone’s a winner’ mentality. Some research found that boys thrive under pressure and when faced with competition. That dumbed down aspect left boys with less motivation, determination and drive, resulting in this relative underachievement in comparison to girls.
Teacher Expectations
Where negative labelling exists, boys are less likely to achieve their full potential. Teachers have lower expectations of them through being stereotyped as ‘uninterested in learning’, often disciplined too easily and not given targeted feedback. This creates negative labelling with staff and underachieveing.
Carolyn Jackson - ‘Laddish’ subcultures in school
She claims there is a hegemonic masculinity in society which dictates what a ‘real man’ is like. This puts pressure on boys to comform to a number of stereotypes, especially combined with peer pressure in teenage years. Boys may reject academic qualifications, effort and hard work to exaggerate their masculinity. When combined with teacher labelling, anti-school subcultures form. Boys in this subculture can support each other, underachievement becomes a part of their identity that they can embrace.
The shortage of male role models in the early stages of school life
Men make up 16% of primary school teachers in England and Wales. One poll claims that 40% of 8-11 year olds have had no lessons with a male primary school teacher, hiwever the majority of boys claimed that the presence of a male teacher would make them behave better. 42% said it would make them work harder. Since majority of primary school teachers are female, boys may associate education with femeninity, making it demotivating and leading to underachievement.
The shortage of male role models in the early stages of school life - criticism
Male role models do exist. Men are overwhelmingly head teachers in primary schools. Does the sex of the teacher matter more than the quality of the teaching?
Tina Rampino - The education gender gap
Despite the educational differences in achievement between girls and boys, girls choose to not to ‘acquire a strong mathematical background’, since from a young age, they are encouraged to play with dolls, to be docile and quet, steering them away from maths and science. However, within aspirations, girls have more positive and ambitious attitudes towards education, and are less likely than boys to take risks if their education is in jepordy. Backed up by Tony Sewell’s theories, boys are affected more by instability in family life than girls, resulting in their education being affected more than it would be for girls.
Francis Heidensohn - Double standards
Male peer groups have double standards when it comes to making judgements about sexual behaviour. Boys boast about sexual conquests and recieve positive status from other boys. Girls who behave in that way are easily labelled ‘slags’ and attract negative attention. They are more likely to be seen by teachers as a ‘cause of concern’ for behaving in such ways.
How does schooling shape pupil’s gender sexual identities?
Through:
- double standards
- verbal abuse
- female peer groups
- male peer groups
- the male gaze
- teachers and discipline
Verbal abuse
Students can ‘police’ each other’s sexuality by using abusive language. Sexually unavaliable girls are ‘drags’, whilst the opposite are ‘slags’. Students who don’t confrom to stereotypes are ‘gay’ and ‘lezzies’. The heterosexual norm is reinforced through this language, making it difficult for further progress to be made in creating a climate of tolerance and mutual respect.
Female peer groups
Girls can police each other’s sexual and gender idenitities too. There is often a degree of conflict between girls who conform to one of three identities:
- idealised femenine identity (quiet, passive)
- sexualised idenitity (Having a boyfriend)
- boffin identity (studying hjard, no interest in boys)
Being popular is often cruical to feminine idenitity in schools. It can create tension, detract from schoolwork and between boys and girls.
Male peer groups
Verbal abuse and the male gaze are reinforced by male peer groups, who often form anti-school subcultures. Studies have shown that working-class male peer groups pride themselves on the rejection and defiance on school values. Any opportunity to exagerate ‘machoism’ is valued and work should be avoided. In sixth form, these peer groups exchange ‘machoism’ for ‘effortless achievement’.
The male gaze
Body language and eye contact can provide a further means of allowing boys to assert dominant expectations of masculinity. Evidence that boys ‘look girls up and down’ as sexual objects acts as a reminder that masculinity dominates femeninity. Boys who don’t engange in such practices are labelled as ‘gay’ and can feel stigmatised by the peer group as a result.
Teachers and discipline
Teachers can reinforce gender idenitity in schools too. Male teachers can often poke fun at boys if they gain lower marks on a test, and use phrases as ‘don’t cry like a girl’. Male collegues often have a protective attitude towards female collegues, ‘rescuing’ them from difficult pupils and classes. It reinforces views that females cannot cope alone.
Joan Garrod - Seperating boys and girls at school
The Office for Stabndards in Education (Ofsted) object to the complete segregation of boys from girls in mixed sex schools due to the obvious discrimination in these schools. In the UK, only 11% of students are in same sex schools, which is why it can be difficult to compare same sex and mixed schools, and a good majority of same sex schools are private or grammar. There is evidence that students in same sex schools achieve higher GCSE grades than those in mixed sex schools (75% vs. 55%), and there is no apparent gender differences in subject choices in single sex schools.], as there’s no established stereotypes, allowing anyone to choose whatever they wanted. The University of London provided evidence to show that girls in same sex schools achieve higher outcomes at GCSE than girls at mixed sex schools, and are more likely to choose to study STEM subjects further on. They also earn 10% higher in their careers than girls who went to mixed sex schools. Feminists may support the idea Of girls in same sex schools, since there, they arent held back by stereotypes, and arew encouraged to study typically ‘masculine’ subjects/feilds.
Joan Garrod - criticism
There are also same sex state schools/ mixed sex private and grammar schools. The schools that achieve higher GCSE outcomes could be private or selective schools.
