Gender Differences Flashcards
Outline some general trends in gender differences in educational achievement.
Girls outperform boys, however, there are stereotypical gender differences.
In the A-C economy, two thirds of girls get A-C in English, compared to under a half of boys.
More girls get 3 or more A-Levels than boys.
Female achievement is not only generally better as they work harder, are more motivated and conscientious, but has improved over the years. How?
Feminism has raised expectation and self-esteem for women by emphasising equal opportunities and challenging traditions.
Girls now strive for careers rather than creating families.
Boys underachieve due to teachers being less strict with them. Why is that?
Teachers have lower expectations of boys as they are disruptive and have poorly presented work and so give them extended deadlines.
Teacher time is mostly spent on boys and not girls which suggests that girls may still be underachieving.
How do boys and girls differ in regards to how they feel about education?
Few boys feel like they are below average, but state that they don’t like school or work hard. On the other hand, girls lack in confidence and feel undervalued.
Gender differences may also come from the differences in how the genders spend their free time. How are their activities different?
Boys tend to do and girls tend to talk.
Boys free roam and play sports while girls tend to stay at home and talk to each other or read.
How do boys view school work? Why?
As non-macho and girly. The decline in traditional male jobs made qualifications seem worthless apart from getting them into service-sector jobs where comprehension and writing skills are important.
Provide some evidence for the boys’ attitude to school work.
Douglas argued that school is a linguistic experience providing writing and comprehension skills that are seen as “sissy”. Reading is seen as not real work, boring and a waste of time.
Girls choose subjects like arts, textiles and food technology whilst boys do electronics, graphics and science and technology. What is the cause of these differences?
Socialisation causes subject choice differences as it encourages genders to play with different toys and engage in different activities. Boys develop interest in technical and scientific subjects.
The science classroom is also seen as masculine and is dominated by males. They use the equipment and answer to questions first and girls in textbooks are “invisible” thus undermining females and reinforcing the stereotype that science is a male subject.
What is the male identity crisis?
Because of the changing men’s position in society due to political and economic changes as well as changing role of women in society, men are unsure about their role and thus don’t see the point in working hard.
