Gender Flashcards
Gender external- Impacts of feminism
-Feminism impacts since 1960s
-McRobbie’s study of girls magazines in the 1970s. They emphasised the importance of getting married and not being ‘left on the shelf’. Whereas magazines now contain images of assertive. independent women.
Gender external- Changes in the family
Many changes since the 1970s
- an increased divorce rate
-an increase in cohabitation and a decrease in the number of first marriages
-an increase in the number of lone-parent families
-smaller families
This has changed girls attitudes for eduaction
Gender external-Changes in women’s employment
-1970 Equal Pay Act made it illegal to pay women less than men for equal value and the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act outlaws discrimination at work.
-Since 1975 the pay gap between men and women has halved from 30% to 15%
- Proportion of women in employment has risen from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013.
-Some women are now breaking through the ‘glass ceiling’
Gender external- Girls’ changing ambitions
Sharpe’s interviews with girls in the 1970s and 1990s show a major shift in how girls see their futures.
-1974- low aspirations; believed educational success was unfeminine.
- By the 1990s girls ambitions has changed and they had different priorities- careers and being able to support themselves.
Gender internal- Equal opportunities policies
-GIST ( Girls into science in technology) and WISE ( Women in science and engineering) programmes to encourage girls into science and technology.
-National curriculum - girls and boys largely study the same subjects (eg. by making science compulsory).
Gender internal- Positive role models in schools
There are more female teachers, which feminises the learning environment and encourages girls to see school as part of a ‘female gender domain’.
Gender internal- GCSE and coursework
Gorard found that the gender gap was fairly constant from 1975 until 1989 when it increased sharply due to the GCSE being introduced.
Mitsos and Browne concluded girls are more successful in coursework because they:
•spend more time on work
•take more care with the way it is presented
•are better at meeting deadlines
•bring the right equipment and materials to lessons
Gender internal- Teacher attention
Swann found that boys dominate class discussions, whereas girls are better at listening and cooperating. Teachers respond more positively to girls and give them more encouragement.
French and French found that teachers paid boys and girls similar amounts of attention for academic reasons, but boys received more attention overall because they were disciplined more often.
Gender internal- Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum
Weiner argues since the -1980s teachers have challenged stereotypes and sexist images have been removed from learning materials.
Gender internal- Selection and league tables
Marketisation policies have led to increased competition between schools. Schools therefore have the incentive to recruit more able students. Girls are generally more successful than boys, so are more attractive to schools
Symbolic capital
Archer says one reason for these differences is conflict between working class girls’ feminine identities and the school’s values and ethos.
W/c girls barriers with achievement
-Hyper-heterosexual feminine identities
-Boyfriends
-Being ‘loud’
-Working-class girls’ dilemma
Working class girls’ dilemma
•Either gaining symbolic capital from their peers by conforming to a hyper-heterosexual feminine identity
•Or gaining educational capital by rejecting their w/c identity and conforming to the school’s middle class notions of a respectable, ideal female pupil
Boys external- Boys literacy
Parents spend less time reading to sons because it is seen as a ‘feminine’ activity.
Boys leisure interests do not encourage language and communication skills, whereas gitls ‘bedroom culture’ does.
Boys external- Decline in manual labour
Globalisation had led to the decline in heavy industries (eg. shipbuilding, mining and manufacturing) in the UK. This has led to a male ‘identity crisis’, giving them little motivation to get qualifications for a job
