Gender and subject choice

Question 1

Gender role socialisation

Answer 1

-From an early age boys and girls are socialised to dressing, behaving differently.
Elwood (1998):
-The differences in socialisation, leads to different taste in books which affects their subject choice: boys= likely to read information texts= likely to prefer subjects like science whereas girls= stories/fiction= prefer subjects like English

Question 2

Gendered subject images

Answer 2

Kelly:
-Science is seen as a ‘boys’ subject due to teachers mainly being male, examples used often come from boys, boys take more control in practicals, acting as if the apparatus is theirs

Question 3

Single-sex schooling

Answer 3

-Pupils who attend single-sex schools tend to hold less stereotyped views + make less traditional subject choices
E.g. Leonard (2006) found girls are more likely to take stem alevels, whilst boys are more likely to take english

Question 4

Gender identity + peer pressure

Answer 4

-Girls who are sporty have to deal with the fact they contradict the traditional female stereotype
Dewar (1990):
-Found male students would label girls as ‘lesbian’ if they were interested in sport

Question 5

Gendered career opportunities

Answer 5

-Women’s jobs often steer towards work similar to a job of a housewife e.g. nursing or childcare
-Boys will be deterred from picking a career that is female dominated

Question 6

Gender vocational choice + class

Answer 6

Fuller (2011):
-W/C girls had ambitions to go into jobs like beauty/child care= reflected their w/c habitus, sense of a realistic expectation for people like them