gender and subject choice

Question 1

What are the four factors affecting subject choice?

Answer 1

gender role socialisation
gendered subject images
gender identity and peer-pressure
gendered career opportunities

Question 2

What are gender domains?

Answer 2

tasks and activities which are seen as being ‘male’ or ‘female’
we are socialised to act the ‘role’ of a boy or girl

Question 3

Eileen Byrne

Answer 3

boys socialised to be tough and show initiative; girls socialised to be quiet, organised, helpful and tidy

Question 4

Murphy and Elwood

Answer 4

different reading habits
boys = hobby books and non-fiction
girls = fiction

Question 5

Murphy

Answer 5

girls and boys pay attention to different
boys = how things work e.g. why boys choose science
girls = how people feel e.g. why girls choose humanities and art subjects

Question 6

Browne and Ross

Answer 6

‘gender domains’
open task: design a boat
boys -> powerboat/battleship
girls -> cruise ships (more leisurely)

Question 7

Kelly

Answer 7

boys choose science because..
-more male teachers
-examples more likely to relate to male interests
-practical aspects of experiments and working in a laboratory

Question 8

Colley

Answer 8

boys choose computer science because…
-working with ‘machines’ (part of a ‘male domain’)
-tasks tend to be formal, abstract and independent rather than based on group work which girls prefer

Question 9

Leonard

Answer 9

data from 13,000 students
more likely to choose ‘female’ subjects as a male and vice versa in single-sex/same-sex schools

Question 10

Paechter

Answer 10

sports are seen as manly so ‘sporty’ girls have to cope with contradicting stereotype
-girls thus more likely than boys to opt out of sport

Question 11

Alison Dewar

Answer 11

sporty girls are labelled as ‘lesbian’ or ‘butch’ by male students

Question 12

Fuller

Answer 12

w/c girls ambitions to work in childcare/hair and beauty to meet expectations of ‘someone like them’

Question 13

Institute of physics

Answer 13

girls 2.4x more likely to take A-level physics in single-sex schools

Question 14

gendered career opportunities

Answer 14

-occupations are ‘sex typed’
-correspondence between female work and domestic responsibilities e.g. childcare/nursing
-1/2 women work in either clerical, secretarial, personal services or occupations such as cleaning
-message about ‘acceptable’ occupations
-work experience is highly gendered and helps to direct towards gendered job roles (e.g. girls in retail or nurseries)
-job/course reflects class habitus

Question 15

the effect of single-sex schooling

Answer 15

less likely to conform to traditional ‘gender routes’

Question 16

gender identity and peer pressure

Answer 16

pressure to conform to gender stereotypes e.g. boys opt out of drama/dance because it’s not within their domain and is likely to attract a negative response from peers who like to ‘police’

Question 17

Norman

Answer 17

-early socialisation shapes children’s gender identity
-from an early age, boys and girls are dressed differently, given different toys and encouraged to take part in different activities