Gender and education

Question 1

Does class affect gender and achievement? (statistic)

Answer 1

40.6% of girls on free school meals achieved 5 A*-C GCSE in 2013 compared to 67.5% of their counterparts not on free school meals.

Question 2

What reason does Archer give for these differences?

Answer 2

The conflict between working-class girls’ feminine identities and the values and ethos of the school.

Question 3

What did Archer find?

Answer 3

By performing their working-class feminine identities, the girls gained symbolic capital from their peers. However this brought them into conflict with school, preventing them from acquiring educational and economic capital.

Question 4

What is symbolic capital?

Answer 4

The status, recognitions and sense of worth we obtain from others.

Question 5

What strategies did the working class girls follow to gain symbolic capital?

Answer 5

Adopting a hyper-heterosexual feminine identity
having a boyfriend
being loud

Question 6

Describe the hyper-heterosexual feminine identity

Answer 6

Girls spent considerable amounts of money on appearance. It consisted of black urban American styles combined with unisex sportswear and ‘sexy’ clothes, makeup and hairstyles. This identity brought status from their female peer group but conflicted with the school. The girls were often punished for wearing too much jewellery/makeup/incorrect uniform. This resulted in the school ‘othering’ the girls and defining them as ‘not one of us’, incapable of educational success and thus less worthy of respect.

Question 7

What does Bourdieu describe this process as?

Answer 7

Symbolic violence - the harm done by denying someone symbolic capital

Question 8

What did Archer find the school’s ‘ideal female pupil’ identity is?

Answer 8

A de-sexualised and middle-class one that excludes many working class girls.

Question 9

What was the effect of having a boyfriend?

Answer 9

Brought symbolic capital but got in the way of school work and lowered girls’ aspirations. Meant girls lost interest in going to uni, studying ‘masculine’ subjects or gaining a career. Instead, they aspired to settle down, have children and work locally in wc feminine jobs e.g. childcare.

Question 10

What was the effect of being loud?

Answer 10

This identity led wc girls to be outspoken, independent and assertive, e.g. questioning teachers’ authority. They didn’t conform to the school’s stereotype of the ideal female pupil identity as passive and submissive to authority. This brought conflict with teachers, who interpreted their behaviour as aggressive rather than assertive.

Question 11

What are the external factors for boys falling behind in education?

Answer 11

boys’ poorer literacy and language skills

the decline of traditional men’s jobs

Question 12

What are the internal factors for boys falling behind in education?

Answer 12

the feminisation of education
the shortage of male primary school teachers
‘laddish’ subcultures

Question 13

Why do boys have poorer literacy and language skills?

Answer 13

• Parents spend less time reading with sons
• most of the reading is done by mothers = seen as a feminine activity
• boys’ leisure pursuits e.g. football do not help to develop their language and communication skills
• bedroom culture = centred on girls staying in and talking with friends

Question 14

Why has there been a decline in traditional men’s jobs?

Answer 14

There has been a decline in heavy industries due to the globalisation of the economy. This means industry has been outsourced to developing countries e.g. China to take advantage of cheap labour.

Question 15

What do Mitsos and Browne claim?

Answer 15

This decline in male employment opportunities has led to an ‘identity crisis for men’. Many boys now believe they have little prospect of getting a proper job which undermines their motivation/self-esteem and results in them giving up trying to get qualifications.

Question 16

How can this be criticised?

Answer 16

The decline has largely been in manual wc jobs that require few qualifications. Therefore it’s unlikely that the disappearance of such jobs would have much impact on boys’ motivation to obtain qualifications.

Question 17

Why does Tony Sewell claim boys fall behind?

Answer 17

Because education has become ‘feminised’ - schools don’t celebrate masculine traits e.g. competitiveness and leadership but celebrate qualities more closely associated with girls e.g. methodical working and attentiveness.

Question 18

What does Sewell say about coursework?

Answer 18

Sees it as a major cause of gender differences in achievement. “Although we have challenged the patriarchy and rightly said this isn’t a man’s world, we have also thrown the boy out with the bath water.”

Question 19

Give some statistics about the lack of male role models at home and in school

Answer 19

• 1.5 million single mother families in the UK
• only 16% of primary school teachers are male
• 39% of 8-11yr old boys have no lessons with a male teacher yet most boys surveyed said the presence of a male teacher made them behave better qand 42% said it made them work harder

Question 20

Why has there been a shortage of male primary school teachers?

Answer 20

Because the culture of the primary school has become feminised due to being staffed by female teachers, who are unable to control boys’ behaviour. In this view, male teachers are better able to impose the strict discipline boys need in order to concentrate.

Question 21

However what did Becky Francis find?

Answer 21

2/3 of 7-8 year olds believed the gender of teachers doesn’t matter.

Question 22

What is Barbara Read critical of?

Answer 22

Of the claims that the culture of primary schools is becoming feminised and that only male teachers can exert the firm discipline that boys need to achieve.

Question 23

What 2 types of language does Read identify as used by teachers to express disapproval of pupils’ work/behaviour?

Answer 23

• a disciplinarian discourse : the teacher’s authority is made explicit and visible, e.g. through shouting or sarcasm (usually associated with masculinity)
• a liberal discourse : the teacher’s authority is implicit and invisible. The teacher speaks to the pupil as if they were an adult and expects them to be kind, sensible and respectful of the teacher (usually associated with femininity)

Question 24

What did Read find in her study of 51 primary school teachers?

Answer 24

Most teachers (including female) used a ‘masculine’ disciplinarian discourse to control pupils’ behaviour.

Question 25

What does Read conclude?

Answer 25

• by most teachers favouring a ‘masculine’ disciplinarian discourse of control disproves the claim that the culture of the primary school has been feminised
• the fact that female teachers were just as likely as males to use a ‘masculine’ discourse disproves the claim that only male teachers can provide the stricter classroom culture in which boys are said to thrive.

Question 26

What did Epstein find about the way masculinity is constructed within school?

Answer 26

She found that working class boys are likely to be harassed, labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic abuse if they appear to work too hard.

Question 27

What did Francis find? (laddish subcultures)

Answer 27

Boys were more concerned than girls about being labelled as nerds as this is more of a threat to their masculinity that it is to girls’ femininity.

Question 28

Why do wc boys reject schoolwork?

Answer 28

This is because in working class culture, masculinity is equated with being tough and doing manual work. Non-manual work (schoolwork) is seen as effeminate and inferior. Therefore, wc boys tend to reject schoolwork to avoid being called gay.

Question 29

Why is laddish culture becoming more widespread according to Francis?

Answer 29

Because as girls move into traditional masculine areas such as careers, boys respond by “becoming increasingly laddish in their effort to construct themselves as non-feminine”.

Question 30

What do critics of feminism argue?

Answer 30

The narrative about boys underachieving and girls ‘having it all’ has led to a moral panic about failing boys. They believe girls have exceeded at the expense of boys, who are now the new disadvantaged.

Question 31

What do Feminists such as Ringrose say?

Answer 31

The moral panic reflects a fear in society that working class boys will become a dangerous, unemployable underclass that threatens social stability.
This moral panic has caused a major shift in educational policy (raising boys' achievement) which has had 2 negative effects.

Question 32

What 2 negative effects has this policy shift had?

Answer 32

• ignores the problem of disadvantaged working class and minority ethnic pupils
• ignores other problems faced by girls in school. These include sexual harassment, bullying, self-esteem, stereotyped subject choices.

Question 33

What does Olser note about the shift in policy?

Answer 33

• Has led to a neglect of girls partly because girls disengage from school quietly, whereas boys’ disengagement takes the form of public displays of ‘laddish’ masculinity that attract attention from teachers and policymakers
• mentoring schemes aimed at reducing school exclusions among black boys ignores the problem of exclusions among girls (which are increasing). Furthermore, girls who are excluded are less likely to obtain places in pupil referral units.

Question 34

What are the explanations of gender differences in subject choice?

Answer 34

Gender role socialisation
Gendered subject images
Gender identity and peer pressure
Gendered career options

Question 35

In what ways has gender role socialisation/early socialisation lead to gender differences in subjects?

Answer 35

• teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative whereas girls are expected to be quiet, helpful, clean, tidy.
• Boys and girls develop different tastes in reading. Murphy and Elwood found that boys read hobby books and information texts whereas girls read stories about people. This explains why boys prefer science and girls english.
• children’s beliefs about ‘gender domains’ are shaped.

Question 36

What are gender domains?

Answer 36

The tasks and activities that boys and girls see as male or female ‘territory’. E.g. mending a car = gender domain but looking after a sick child isn’t. Children are more confident when engaging in tasks they see as part of their own gender domain.

Question 37

Why is science seen as a boys’ subject?

Answer 37

• science teachers are more likely to be men
• in lessons, boys monopolise the apparatus and dominate the laboratory
• examples used by textbooks and teachers draws on boys’ interest

Question 38

Why are computer studies seen as a masculine subject?

Answer 38

• it involves working with machines which is part of the male gender domain
• the way it’s taught is off-putting to females e.g. few opportunities to group work

Question 39

What did Leonard find about single-sex schooling?

Answer 39

girls in girls’ school were more likely to take maths and science a levels, while boys in boys’ school were more likely to take English and languages. Also, girls from single-sex schools were more likely to study male-dominated subjects at university.

Question 40

In what ways has peer pressure lead to gender differences in subjects?

Answer 40

• boys tend to opt out of music and dance because it falls outside their gender domain
• ‘sporty’ girls have to cope with an image that contradicts the conventional female stereotype
• male students call girls ‘lesbian’ or ‘butch’ if they appeared to be interested in sport
• in mixed schools, peers police one another’s subject choices so girls and boys adopt an appropriate gender identity, with girls pressured to avoid subjects such as physics (absence of peer pressure from opposite sex explains why girls are more likely to choose traditional boys’ subjects)

Question 41

In what ways has gendered career options lead to gender differences in subjects?

Answer 41

Jobs tend to be sex-typed as “men’s” or “women’s”. Women’s jobs often fall into : clerical, secretarial, personal services and occupations such as cleaning.

Question 42

Describe gender, vocational choice and class

Answer 42

WC pupils may make decisions about vocational courses that are based on a traditional sense of gender identity. E.g. most of the girls studied by Carol Fuller had ambitions to go into child care or hair/beauty. This reflected their wc habitus. These ambitions may arise out of work experience placements, which are often gendered and classed.

Question 43

In what ways are pupils’ gender and sexual identities constructed in school?

Answer 43

Double standards
Verbal abuse
The male gaze
Male peer groups
Female peer groups: policing identity
Teachers and discipline

Question 44

What did Lee identify?

Answer 44

A double standard of sexual morality where boys boast about their own sexual exploits, but call a girl a “slag” if she doesn’t have a steady boyfriend or dresses in a certain way.

Sexual conquest is approved of and given status by male peers and ignored by male teachers, but ‘promiscuity’ among girls attracts negative labels.

Question 45

What do feminists say about double standards?

Answer 45

Feminists see these double standards as an example of a patriarchal ideology that justifies male power and devalues women. Double standards can be seen as a form of social control that reinforce gender inequality by keeping females subordinate to males.

Question 46

How does verbal abuse reinforce gender and sexual identities?

Answer 46

• boys use name-calling to put girls down if they behave or dress in a certain way. Lees found that girls were called slags if they appeared to be sexually available and drags if they weren’t
• Paechter sees name-calling as helping to shape gender identity and maintain male power e.g. the use of negative labels such as ‘gay’, ‘queer’ are ways in which pupils police each other’s sexual identities.

Question 47

How does the male gaze reinforce gender and sexual identities?

Answer 47

Mac an Ghaill refer to the male gaze as the way male pupils and teachers look girls up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance.
This is a form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity devalued. It is one of the ways boys prove their masculinity to their friends and is often combined with telling stories about sexual conquests. Boys who don’t display their heterosexuality in this way run the risk of being labelled gay.

Question 48

How does the male peer groups reinforce gender and sexual identities?

Answer 48

• use verbal abuse to reinforce their definitions of masculinity e.g. Willis’ study
• Mac an Ghaill’s study examines how peer groups reproduce a range of different class-based masculine gender identities e.g:
  the wc ‘macho lads’ were dismissive of other wc boys who worked hard and aspired to mc careers, referring to them as the “dickhead achievers”
  By contrast, mc “real englishmen” projected an image of ‘effortless achievement’.

Question 49

What is interesting about Mac an Ghaill’s findings?

Answer 49

The dominant definition of masculine identity changes from that of the macho lads in the lower school to that of the real Englishmen in the sixth form. This represents a shift away from a wc definition based toughness to a mc one based on intellectual ability and the more mc composition/atmosphere of the sixth form.

Question 50

What did Ringrose’s small-scale study of 13-14 yr old working class girls’ peer groups show?

Answer 50

As the girls made a transition from a girls’ friendship culture into a heterosexual dating culture, they faced a tension between:

• an idealised feminine identity of showing loyalty to the female peer group, being non-competitive and getting along with everybody
• a sexualised identity that involved competing for boys in the dating culture

Question 51

Why does Currie et al argue that while relationships with boys can confer symbolic capital, it is a high risk game?

Answer 51

Because girls are forced to perform a balancing act between these 2 identities:

• girls who are too competitive and think themselves better than their peers risk ‘slut shaming’ and being excluded from the friendship culture
• on the other hand, girls who don’t compete for boyfriends may face ‘frigid shaming’ by the other girls

Question 52

What is a ‘boffin’ identity?

Answer 52

Girls who want to be successful educationally may feel the need to conform to the school’s notion of the ideal feminine pupil identity. Reay found this involved girls having to perform an asexual identity, presenting themselves as lacking any interest in boy friends or popular fashion. As a result, they risk being given the ‘boffin’ identity and excluded by other girls and boy.

Question 53

However according to Francis how to middle class female boffins respond to this?

Answer 53

By defining other working class girls as “chavs”.

Question 54

How does teachers and discipline reinforce gender and sexual identities?

Answer 54

Haywood and Mac an Ghaill found that male teachers told boys off for ‘behaving like girls’ and teased them when they gained lower marks in tests than girls. Teachers tended to ignore boys’ verbal abuse of girls and even blamed girls for attracting it.

Question 55

What do Askew and Ross show?

Answer 55

How male behaviour can subtly reinforce messages about gender. E.g. male teachers often have a protective attitude towards female colleagues, coming into their classes to ‘rescue’ them by threatening pupils who are being disruptive. However, this reinforces the idea that women can’t cope alone.