Gender and Subject Choice

Question 1

Give statistics that support gendered subject choice

Answer 1

Institute of Physics found the proportion of girls who do physics has been consistent at 20% for over 20 years. Which calls into question the effectiveness of policies (WISE and GIST) as they’re made to encourage girls to do physics

Question 2

How does early socialisation affect gendered subject choice?

Answer 2

Murphy and Elwood show how differences in socialisation, leads to different reading tastes and then to different subject choices. e.g. Boys read hobby books while girls prefer stories. This explains why boys prefer STEM subjects and why girls prefer English as the books encourage different skills.

Question 3

Describe how gender domains may affect achievement?

Answer 3

• Browne and Ross argue gender domains (tasks that are seen as female or male ‘territory’) are shaped by early socialisation.
• Children feel more confident in their own gender domain and this continues in school when there are gendered subjects choices

Question 4

How does gendered subject images affected gendered subject choice?

Answer 4

Colley argues computer science is seen as a boy subject as it involves machines which is a male gender domain and tasks tend to be abstract and lacks group works, which girls favour.

Question 5

Describe a study that supports gendered subject choice

Answer 5

• Murphy asked primary and lower secondary pupils to design boats and vehicles and to write estate agents’ adverts for a house.
• In all tasks, the pupils showed their gender domain. e.g. when writing adverts, boys focused on ‘masculine’ spheres like garage spaces whereas girls focused on ‘feminine’ ones such as decoration and kitchen design
• Shows that boys focus on their gender domain which involves machinery while girls focus on more domestic details

Question 6

How does same-sex schools affect gendered subject choice?

Answer 6

• Same sex schools are less likely to hold subject images.
• Leonard highlights how many students make less traditional subject choices and found girls in girls’ schools were more likely to do maths and science and boys in boys’ were more likely to take English and languages

Question 7

Link gender, subject choice and class

Answer 7

• WC pupils may make decisions that are based on a traditional sense of gender identity.
• Fuller found most WC girls that she studied, had ambitions to go into jobs such as child care or hair and beauty, reflecting their WC habitus.
• These ambitions may arise out of work experience, which are gendered and classed. Fuller found placements in feminine WC jobs (nursing and retail work) were the norm for girls.
• She concludes that the school was implicitly steering girls toward certain types of job through work experience placements it offered them .