gender and education Flashcards
what did Sue Sharpe do
interviewed and surveyed working class girls in London in the 1970s and 90s
1970’s
early gender socialisation means girls attached little importance
to education, priorities were love, marriage and children
sue Sharpe is a
feminist
1990
‘gender quake’. Girls’ priorities shifted to
careers, girls were more ambitious, confident and committed to gender
equality.
Sue Sharpe concluded changes between 1970’s and 1990’s can be seen in the context of…
legislative changes (Equal Pay Act, Sex Discrimination Act) and the successes of the
feminist movement
sue Sharpe evaluation
Sharpe recognises there is still a long way to go and women are still
oppressed in society
- there is still a gender pay gap etc
- Therefore, whilst it is a convincing explanation it does not, on its own, explain
why girls outperform boys so clearly and consistently.
Willmott & Young - Change in family life and structure
- the modern family is symmetrical ( divides
responsibilities equally between partners)
*The number of lone parent families has increased – which tend to be
headed by women, providing role models for girls.
*An increase in women taking on the breadwinner role – has led to a
crisis of masculinity
CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT - GIRLS
Legislation such as the Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act has
created more equality and increased the proportion of women in
employment
Francis
the growth in employment opportunities and the rise in young women’s occupational ambitions have increased their incentives to gain
educational qualifications
changes in employment - boys - Mac and Ghaill
w/c boys are experiencing a ‘crisis of masculinity’ – they
are socialised into seeing their future male identity in terms of having a
job/being the breadwinner, but the landscape has changed
why crisis of masculinity
- decline of the manufacturing industry & rise in long-term
unemployment make it increasingly unlikely that males will be the main
earners - New jobs in the service sector are often part time, desk based and suited to
the skills and lifestyles of women. - traditional male roles are under threat and boys may lack motivation if they feel their prospects are limited.
Leading to lowered
expectations, low self-esteem, constructing a self image through laddish
behaviour and anti-school activity.
evaluation of crisis of masculinity ( Mac and Ghaill)
- decline of manufacturing only affects working class boys, possibly explaining their achievement relative to girls, but middle class girls
outperform middle class boys too, who are less likely to associate masculinity with factory work. - Willis argued that the ‘Lads’ formed a counter school culture and rejected
education even when they had jobs to go to, meaning there are other causes
of male underachievement besides the crisis of masculinity.
Equal opportunities (policies)
*The work of sociologists in highlighting girls underperformance in the past = a greater emphasis in schools on equal opportunities.
*Policies introduced to address gender differences in subject choice and
encourage girls to choose sciences at school e.g. GIST and WISE.
*1988 Education Reform Act: introduced the National Curriculum meaning
all students studied the same core subjects e.g. sciences. Created a more
meritocratic education system, whereby males and females compete on
equal terms.
evaluation of equal opportunities (policies)
Subjects like the sciences remain male dominated, despite the initiatives
such as GIST.
COLLEY
COLLEY
suggests that gender perceptions of different subjects influence subject choice, arts and humanities are seen as feminine and
science and technology masculine
labelling
Girls are labelled as the ideal pupil, while boys may be labelled as troublemakers. Girls are positively labelled and respond with attention
and hard work, while it is expected that boys will mess about
Swann and Graddol
teachers might spend more time with boys, however
interactions between teachers and girls are educational (teaching and
learning), whereas interactions with boys are about behaviour
management
anti-school subcultures
It is more likely that boys will form or join anti-school subcultures.
Peer-group pressure encourages boys to maintain a dominant masculine
identity, developed through resistance to school
Epstein - anti school subcultures
w/c boys risked harassment, bullying and homophobic
comments if they appeared to be hard working at school
Mitsos and Browne (feminisation of education)
Coursework suits girls as girls have better
organisation skills and are more perfectionis
Sewell (feminisation of education)
- argues that education has become feminised and does not nurture masculine traits. - Boys become alienated by the feminised classroom. E.g. dominance of female teachers particularly in primary schools.
feminisation of education
Educational achievement is measured against skills where girls excel more than boys. E.g. high levels of coursework in original GCSEs which girls tend to perform better in
evaluation of feminisation of education
There is now relatively little coursework in GCSEs or A Levels, and girls are still performing better than boys. It would appear that girls are better at exams too
gender differences in education - facts and trends
- Both genders’ results have generally increased over the past 30 years.
- However, girls have improved significantly more than boys
gender differences in education - RISE OF FEMINISM
Since the 1960’s, feminism has grown and challenged patriarchy in all areas
of society.
rise of feminism (main 3 aspects)
- changing ambitions
- changing families
- changing employment
Changing ambitions - Sue Sharpe
Girls’ priorities in the 1970s were love and marriage. Where as in the 1990s, this
changed to careers and independence
how are changing ambitions a result of feminist
Feminism has made it possible for girls to
have realistic ambitions, including changes in
how women are perceived and laws such as
the Equal Pay Act
How changing ambitions positively impacted girls’ educational achievement
If girls are able to have ambitions that are
realistic, that provides them with more motivation to work hard in school, which could lead to better grades
changing ambitions sue Sharpe - evaluation
Sharp’s research
method involved studying the content of MAGAZINES (out dated)
CHANGING FAMILIES
- Increase in divorce rate
- Female headed lone parent
families - Increase in cohabitation
- Women are having less children
- More women staying single
changing employment p laws and policies put in place to improve position of working women
- Equal pay act (1970)
- Sex discrimination act (1975)
internal factors within the education system that = girls improved performance
- role models
- coursework
- selection and league tables
- teacher attention
- equal opportunities policy
equal opportunities policy - meritocracy
The equal opportunities policy has caused education to become more meritocratic. Girls now
have equal opportunities to
succeed.
ROLE MODELS
There are now more female
teachers and head teachers
in schools compared to the
past. This provides a pro-
education role model for girls
Gorad (2005) (GCSE’s)
found that the gender gap in achievement increased in 1998 when GCSE was introduced. Most of these subjects included coursework
MITOS AND BROWNE (1998)
believed that girls do better than boys in course work because they are more
conscientious and organised
FRENCH AND FRENCH (1983)
believed that
teachers paid both girls and boys equal attention for academic reasons. However, boys attracted more attention overall due to their misbehaviour
FRANCIS (2001)
found that boys received
more attention. However, this is because they were disciplined more, teachers picked on them more, and teachers had lower expectations of them
SWANN (1998)
found that boys dominate class discussions, whereas girls are better at listening
and cooperating. Teachers respond more
positively to girls behaviour, and therefore gave
them more encouragement
selection and league tables
- Marketisation policies such as league tables have led to competition between schools
- Schools have an incentive to recruit more able
students in order to boost their results and
therefore boost their league table position
-Girls are seen as ‘more able students’ and therefore
get recruited into better schools, meaning they receive a better education and achieve more
Anthony giddens
- education historically reinforces gender roles and patriarchal roles
- acknowledges feminism’s role in challenges biased curricula ( promoting equal opportunities for women + addressing intersectional inequalities to create more inclusive systems)
role models for girls
now more female teachers and head teachers , pro-education role model for girls
main reasons for boys underachievement
- ‘laddish culture’
- feminisation of schooling
- globalisation
- literacy
SEWELL (2006)
argues boys are underachieving because education has become ‘feminised’
+ lack of masculine role models
(sewell) education feminised
schools no longer embody traditional masculine traits
eg competition and leadership
(sewell) lack of male role models
- within schools education has become more feminised
- only 1/6 primary school teachers are men
- also rise of female headed lone-parent families also contributing factor
FRANCIS (2001) - laddish subcultures
- found that boys are concerned about being labelled as ‘smart’ by their peers, because this threatens their masculinity.
- w/c subcultures see non-manual work (eg. schoolwork) as feminine
Globalisation since the 1980’s
- has meant that the
manufacturing industries have relocated into development countries - therefore led to a decline in traditional male jobs in heavy industries mining
within the UK - led to an identity crisis amongst males
- Many boys now believe that they do not have a chance at getting a job and therefore have less motivation to get
qualifications
Literacy (boys underachievement)
- Parents spend less time reading to their sons because it is seen as a feminine activity
- Boys leisure interests (such as sport and computer games) do not encourage communication and language skills, whereas girls
bedroom culture does
vocational courses - 1%
Gender differences are most present, with only 1%
construction apprentices are female
gender and subject choice - post 16 education
There is more choice available so bigger gender differences appear.
gender and subject choice - national curriculum
Most subjects are compulsory, but where possible, girls and boys choose differently - eg. girls choose food technology, boys choose woodwork.
GENDER IDENTITY & PEER
PRESSURE
Boys and girls pressurise each other to conform to gender stereotypes. For
example, boys often opt out of music because of the negative peer response and girls often opt out of sport fearing the accusations of being called ‘butch’ by peers
Byrne (1979)
found teachers encourage
boys to be tough, whereas they expect girls to by quiet
and helpful.
Gender domains
activities that are seen as either ‘male’ or ‘female’. For example, cooking is seen as a ‘female’ activity. Gender domains are set during primary socialisation
BROWNE AND ROSS (1991)
found that when girls and boys were set open-ended tasks such as designing a boat, boys designed battleships but girls designed cruise ships which highlights the different gender domains
gendered subject image
Subjects have a gendered image which are either seen as male or female.
- For example, science is
mainly taught by male teachers and textbooks contain more male subjects
and images. As a result of this, it is seen as a ‘male’ subject and more boys take it
gendered careers
Many jobs are either seen as ‘male’ or ‘female’ and tend to be dominated by one gender. For example, nursing is dominated by women, but construction is dominated by men
FEMINISTS
argue that
experiences in school act
as a form of social control
to reproduce patriarchy
CONNELL (1995)
Connell argues that schools
reproduce ‘hegemonic
masculinity’ - the dominance
of the heterosexual
masculine identity and the
subordination of female and
gay identities.
verbal abuse
Name-calling girls who act in a certain way makes them conform to male expectations, which therefore acts as a social control
MAC AN GHAILL(1992) (verbal abuse)
found anti-school working
class boys use verbal abuse to reinforce their definitions of masculinity. They called
other working class pro-school boys ‘dickhead achievers’
Haywood and Mac & Ghaill - teachers
found that male teachers
reinforced gender identities by telling boys off for
‘behaving like girls’ and ignoring boys’ verbal abuse of girls.
the male gaze
- a form of social control where male pupils and teachers look girls up and down as sexual objects.
- Boys who do not do this may be labelled ‘gay’ which is another form of social
control
double standards - Lees
found that boys boast about their own sexual exploits, but label girls negatively for the same behaviour
16%
In English GCSE girls outperform boys by 16% for ‘good grades’
76.7% vs 69.8%
In 2022 GCCE’s 76.7% of females achieved a 4 or above , compared to 69.8% males
7.4%
The gender gap is 7.4% for top grades (7) in all GCSE subjects
3.9%
The gender gap in A level is 3.9%
35%
Female school leavers are 35% more likely to apply to university than their male peers
58%
Women from disadvantaged backgrounds are 58% more likely to apply for university
than men from the same background
15%
primary school teachers are male
> 75%
Over 75% of female secondary school pupils in the UK who attend mixed schools claim
that they received sexist comments from other pupils
45%
In 2019, 45% of A level entries were males
Browne shows us
achievement of
males & females within education has ‘Roller-
Coasted
(Browne) Up until the 1980s
here was major concern about females’ low achievement levels
(Browne) 1990’s
females began to significantly outperform males (esp. W/C males)
( Browne) present day
The concern nowadays is that males tend to be underachieving compared
to females.
Edwards and Davi
gendered primary socialisation gives girls an initial advantage in primary and secondary schools (but still tends to create a
male-dominated/patriarchal society
example of early socialisation
parents allowed boys to be noisier than girls, this
translated into primary school boys being more likely to break rules and
less bothered than girls when told off by teachers
Norman
gender stereotypes held by parents result in girls being
encouraged to be relatively passive, and to engage in quiet activities
(playing with dolls, indoors).
‘Typical boys’ need time to play and ‘let off steam’
parents are likely to
be dismissive if their boys are in trouble at school
bedroom culture caused by
early socialisation where gender stereotypes led by parents lead to girls being encouraged to be relatively passive and engage in quiet quiet activities whereas boys are allowed to get in trouble
consequence of bedroom culture
girls end up with a larger vocabulary much earlier in school than boys and thus
tend to achieve higher in the education system
Bedroom culture
girls are more likely to stay inside and do educational
activities like reading from a young age
Hannan
peer groups have an influence - boys relate to their peers by doing (being active), girls relate to their peers by talking. This puts girls at an advantage as most subjects require good levels of comprehension and
writing skills
evaluation of early socialisation
- The socialisation of girls does not explain why they now achieve much higher
than boys compared to the 1980s
– if anything gender socialisation has
become more gender neutral (less gender stereotyped) in recent years
societal changes - feminism
- Feminism has achieved success in improving the rights and raising the
expectations and self-esteem of women. - have challenged the traditional stereotype of women’s roles as housewives and mothers, and more people have become aware of the
problems of patriarchy and sex discrimination
