Gender - Boys (subject choice) Flashcards
What are the 5 factors which affect subject choice for boys?
1) Gender Role Socialisation
2) Gendered Subject Images
3) Gender Identity and Peer Pressure
4) Gendered Career Opportunities
5) Gender, Vocational Choice and Class
What is gender role socialisation?
the process of learning the
behaviour expected of males and females in society.
How does ELWOOD say a genre of reading affects subject choice?
Boys read hobby books and information texts, while girls are more likely to read stories about people. Explains why boys prefer science subjects and why girls prefer subjects such as English.
How does NORMAN say children are socialised into their gender identity?
- boys and girls are dressed differently
- given different toys to play with
- encouraged to take part in different activities.
What does gender domains mean (BROWNE AND ROSS)?
the tasks and activities that boys and girls see as male or female ‘territory’ and therefore as relevant to themselves (eg. fixing a car is male domain)
What does MURPHY say about how gender domains influence how pupils choose their subjects?
Children are more confident when engaging in tasks that they see as part of their own gender domain. So they pay attention to different details even when tackling the same task - eg. girls focus on feelings (humanities and arts) and boys focus on how things are made and work (science)
What is gendered subject images?
Pupils subconciously associate a subject to a gender because of gender images
Why does KELLY say that science is seen as a boys’ subject?
- Science teachers are more likely to be men.
- The examples teachers use, and those in textbooks, often draw on boys’ rather than girls’ interests.
- In science lessons, boys monopolise the apparatus and
dominate the laboratory, acting as if it is ‘theirs’.
What did LEORNARD say about gender subject images affecting subject choice for pupils in same sex schools?
compared to pupils in mixed schools, girls in girls’ schools were more likely to take maths and science A levels, while boys in boys’ schools were more likely to take English and languages.
What did the Institute of Physics find girls in same sex schools are more likely to take A-Level physics than those in mixed schools?
girls in same sex state schools were 2.4x more likely to take A-level physics than those in
mixed schools.
Why might gender identity and peer pressure affect boys’ subject choice?
Other boys and girls may apply pressure to an individual if they
disapprove of his or her choice. For example, boys tend to opt out of music and dance because such activities fall outside their gender domain and so are likely to attract a negative response from peers.
What did DEWAR say how pupils ridiculed pupils because of their subject choice?
male students would call girls
‘lesbian’ or ‘butch’ if they appeared to be interested in sport.
How does gendered career options affect boys’ subject choice?
sex-typing of occupations affects boys’ and girls’ ideas about what kinds of job are possible or acceptable. Thus for example, if boys get the message that nursery nurses are female, they will be less likely to opt for a course
in childcare.
