Gender differences Flashcards
McRobbie- impact of feminism on achievement.
70’s girls magazines emphasised importance of marriage and not being left on the shelf- now contain images of assertive, independent women.
Sharp- girls chain ambitions (interview)
70’s - low aspirations, - wanted love, husband and family over a career. educational success was unfeminine.
90’s- women now wanted careers and success, no longer wanted to be depends on a husband.
new laws-
1970- Equal pay act
1975- sex discrimination act.
Beck and Beck Gernsheim-
we now have individualisation in modern society, career is now part of a women life, economic stability and recognition.
Biggart- the class struggle
W/C girls still see little for them in the job market, so see their only option as to get pregnant.
Feminism in Gov-
Gist (girls into science and technology ), female scientists visiting schools and 1988 the national curriculum.
Gorard- impact of GCSE’s
gender achievement gap always similar until introduction of GCSE’s which brought coursework.
Elwood - evaluation
coursework has some effect but cannot b e the reason for such a big gap, exams have more influence then coursework.
Francis- teacher attention
Boys got more attention but are punished more harshly and felt mistreated, teachers have lower expectations of them.
research on textbooks-
70’s textbooks showed women as housewives and mothers, and physics showed them to be scared of science.
Jackson- league tables
exam league tables have shown girls to be higher achievers so schools want girls more, as they go to better schools they will get better grades.
view on girls achievements - Liberal feminists-
believe good changes have been made, equality will grow using the current methods.
Views on girls achievement- radical feminists
system is still patriarchal, sexual harassment
continues, gender specific subject choices, .
Archer et al- why W/C girls struggle
w/c hyper identies conflict with the schools ethos. Symbolic capital- is the status we get from others, hyper identity gets girls symbolic capital from peers but conflicted with school so they didn’t get educational capital.
Archer- The Hyper heterosexual feminine identity.
Girls focus on looks, wanting to be sexy and desirable, gaining status from peers. This conflicted with the school, teachers labelled them as not one of us and incapable of educational success (symbolic violence).
Bourdieu- Symbolic violence.
Symbolic violence is the harm don e by denying someone symbolic capital, eg. defining a culture as worthless.
W/C reasons for females failing-
Boyfriends- again gained symbolic capital but effected school work, lowered aspirations created a feeling of ‘settling down’
Being Loud- outspoken independent and challenge authority, this made teachers seem them as problem students.
Symbolic capital vs educational capital (the dilemma) is a clear reason W/C girls struggle.
Evans- W/C girls in higher education
Did want to go to uni, but this was to earn money to help their families, repay them.
Skeggs- staying local
The girls stayed at home and went to local uni’s they feared debt but also wanted to be there for their families.
Mitos and Browne - industries going to China
Industries have moved to foreign countries, this has meant a decline in male jobs, creating an identity crisis. Boys have little prospects of getting a job.
Sewell - feminisation of education
Education does not support competitiveness and leadership (masculine traits), instead want qualities that link with girls. Coursework has heightened boys failure. School has overthrown the mans world but has completely thrown the boy out.
Yougov-
only 14% of primary teachers are male, 39% of pupils aged 8-11 had no male teachers but 42% said male teachers made them work harder.
Read- two types of teacher language
Disciplinarian- teachers authority was made explicit and visible, through shouting.
Liberal- teachers authority is implicit and invisible, they teachers speaks to pupils as if they are adults and expects them to be kind and respectful.
Reads conclusions- 1. most teachers used disciplinarian (masculine one) but they were women, shows education is not feminised.
2. shows females can use the strict culture that boys should strive in.
Epstein- laddish behaviour
If boys work hard at school they will be labelled as gay and bullied. They care about these labels more than girls do as it is an attack on their masculinity.
