Gender and Educational Achievement - Gender identity

Question 1

What did Skelton et al. (2007) notice about gender roles?

Answer 1

Boys and girls acted them out in opposites

- shaped by early experience in subconscious of children.

Question 2

How did Connell summarise verbal abuse in boys?

Answer 2

‘a rich vocabulary of abuse’ e.g. putting girls down for certain actions.

Question 3

How does verbal abuse develop and reinforce the gender identity in boys?

Answer 3

• Helps shape it.
• Maintain male superiority and power by name calling
• Lees (1986) - ‘slag’ or ‘drag’ even though it often beared no relation to pupils sexual behaviour.

Question 4

What did Mac an Ghaill find with male peer groups?

Answer 4

• W/C macho lads were dismissive of hardworking w/c boys who they called ‘dickhead achievers’.
• ‘Real Englishmen’ tried to project an image of effortless achievement.
• Macho lads = lower school masculine identity.
• Real Englishmen = 6th form masculine identity.

Question 5

What did Haywood + Mac an Ghaill find with teachers and discipline with boys?

Answer 5

• Male teachers told boys off for behaving like girls.

- Teased for getting lower marks than girls.

Question 6

What did Askew + Ross find with teachers and discipline with boys?

Answer 6

• Male teachers behaviours subtly reinforce messages about gender e.g. teachers helping indanger female teachers.

Question 7

What is the ‘male gaze’ in relation to gender identity?

Answer 7

• Male pupils and teachers look girls up and down like sexual objects.
• Girls dress up to what is attractive to ‘male gaze’.
• Male gaze = a form of surveillance; dominant heterosexuality and masculinity reinforced.
• Proves masculinity to their peers, not displaying it = girl?

Question 8

What does double standards have to do with gender identity?

Answer 8

• Lees (1993) boys boast of sexual exploits, but if a girl is equally as sexually promiscuous she is a ‘slag/slut’.
  = even dressing differently.
  = multiple partners unfavourable for girls.
• Sexual conquest approved of by male peers.

Question 9

In terms of girls gender identity, what does Archer (2010) say is a reason for class differences

Answer 9

• There is a conflict between w/c girls’ feminine identities and the values and the ethos of the school.

Question 10

What did girls ‘gain’ if they performed w/c feminine identities?

Answer 10

Symbolic capital

Question 11

According to Archer (2010) how is symbolic capital attained with w/c females?

Answer 11

1) Hyper-heterosexuality feminine identities
2) Boyfriends
3) Being loud

Question 12

What is a Hyper-heterosexuality feminine identity?

How do Hyper-heterosexuality feminine identities effect female w/c achievement?

Answer 12

• Spending wages on identities like Nike or sportswear
  = prevention of being called a ‘tramp’ by peers.
• Brings them into conflict with the school
  = punished for their appearance.
  = saw it as a distraction for engaging in education

Question 13

How do boyfriends effect female w/c achievement?

Answer 13

• Brought symbolic capital but got in the way of schoolwork and lowered the girls aspirations.
  = lowered interest in Uni or masculine subjects.
  = instead chose to settle down.

Question 14

What is punishment for girls symbolic capital also known as?

Answer 14

Symbolic violence

Question 15

How does ‘being loud’ effect female w/c achievement?

Answer 15

• Outspoken, independent, assertive female e.g. questioning teacher’s authority.
  = not the ideal pupil which is passive and submissive.
  = interpreted questioning as aggressive.
• w/c girls stuck between gaining symbolic or educational capital.

Question 16

What did Evans (2009) find in her study of 21 w/c girls?

Answer 16

• Wanted to go to Uni but also to help their families.

Question 17

What did Archer (2010) say was key to the w/c female habitus, and how did this effect their chances?

Answer 17

Locality
- local + familiarity > distance
= excluded from elite unis