Gender Differnces In Achievment - Gender And Subject Choice

Question 1

Gender and subject choice

Answer 1

• there continues to be a fairly traditional pattern of ‘boys subjects’ and ‘girls subjects’. Boys will tend to opt for subjects such ad maths and physics, while girls are more likely to choose Morden languages.
• the national curriculum give pupils little freedom to choose or drop subjects by making moist subjects compulsory until 16
• however, were choice is possible, both in the national curriculum and much more so after 16, boys and girls tend to follow different ‘gender routes’ through the education system. This is shown in the national curriculum options, AS snd A levels, and vocational courses

Question 2

National curriculum options

Answer 2

• were there is a choice in the national curriculum, girls and boys choose differently. E.g, although design and technology is compulsory subject, girls tend to choose the food technology options where as boys choose graphics and resistant materials

Question 3

AS and A level

Answer 3

• gendered subjects choices become more noticeable after 16, when students have more choice. E.g, there are big gender differences in entries for A level subjects, with boys opting for maths and physics and girls choosing subjects such as sociology, English and languages. These differences are mirrored in subject choice at uni
• these patterns are not new. E.g, the institute of physics found that the proportion of A level physic students who are girls has been ‘stubbornly consistent’, at around 20%, for over 20 years
• this questions the effectiveness of policies such as WISE and GIST aimed at encouraging girls to take up subjects such as physics

Question 4

Vocational coursed

Answer 4

• vocational courses prepare students for particular careers.
• gender segregation is a very noticeable feature of vocational training. E.g, only 1 in 100 childcare apprentices is a boy

Question 5

Explanations of gender differences in subject choice

Answer 5

1. Gender role socialisation
2. Gendered subject images
3. gender identity and peer pressure
4. Gendered career opportunities

Question 6

1. Gender roles socialisation

Answer 6

• is the process of learning the behaviour expected of males and females in society
• early socialisation shapes children’s gender identity, as Norman notes, from an early age, boys and girls are dressed differently, given different toys and encouraged to take part in different activities
• school also plays an important part. Byrne shows how teachers encouraged boys to be tough and show initiative and not be weak or behave like sissies. Girls on the other hand are expected to be quiet, helpful, clean and tidy
• as a result of differences in socialisation, boys and girls develop different tastes in reading. Murphy and Elwood show how these lead to different subject choices. Boys read hobby books and information texts, while girls are more likely to read stories about people.
• this helps to explain why boys prefer science subjects and why girl girls prefer subjects such as English

Question 7

Gender domains

Answer 7

• Browne and Ross argue that children’s beliefs about ‘gender domains’ are shaped by their experiences and the expectations of adults. By gender domains they mean the tasks and activities that boys and girls see as male or female ‘territory’ and therefore relevant to themselves. E,g, mending a car is seen as failing within the male domain, but looking after a sick child is not.
• children are more confident when engaging in tasks that they see as part of their own gender domain. E.g, when they are set the sae mathematical task, girls are more confident in tackling it where it is presented as being about food and nutrition, whereas boys are more confident if it is about cars.
• similarly, Murphy found that boys and girls pay attention to different details even when tackling the same task. In general, girls focus more on how people feel, whereas boys focus on how things are made and work. This helps to explain why girls choose humanities and arts subjects, while boys choose science

Question 8

2. Gendered subject images

Answer 8

• the gender image of subject affects who will want to to schools it. Sociologists have tried to explain why some subjects are seen as boys or girls subjects in the first place. E.g Kelly argues that science is seen as boys subject for several reasons:
• science teachers are more likely yo be men
• the examples teachers uses, and those in textbooks, often drawn on boys rather than girls intrests
• in science lessons, boys monopolise the apparatus and dominate the laboratory, acting as if it is theirs.
• similarly, colley notes that computer studies is seen as a masculine subject for two reasons :
• it involves working with machines - part of the male gender domain
• the way it is taught is off putting to females. Tasks tend to be abstract and teaching styles formal, with few opportunites for group work, which girls favour

Question 9

Single sex schooling

Answer 9

• Leonard found that, 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 takes English and languages. Girls from single sex schools were also mire likely to study male dominated subjects at uni
• Leonard’s findings are supported by the institute of physics study, which found that girls in single sex state schools were 2.4 time more likely to take A level physics than those in mixed schools. The same study found that perceptions of physics are formed outside as well as inside the classroom, e.g, by the lack of female physicists on television

Question 10

3. Gender identity and peer pressure

Answer 10

• subject choice can be influenced by peer pressure. Other boys and girls may apply pressure to an individual if they disapprove of his or her choice e.g, 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
• peachter found that because pupils see sport as mainly within the male domain, girls who are ‘sporty’ have to cope with an image that contradicts the conventional female stereotype. This may explain why girls are more likely than boys to opt out of sport.

Question 11

Gender identity and peer pressure - dewar study

Answer 11

• dewar study of American college students found that male students would call girls ‘lesbian’ or ‘Butch’ if they appeared to be interested in sport
• the same may be true of some science subjects, especially in mixed schools. E.g, ad the institute of physics found, ‘there is something about doing physics as a girl in a mixed setting that is particularly off putting’. Peer pressure is a powerful influence on gender identity and how pupils see themselves in relation to particular subjects. In mixed schools, peers police one another’s subject choices so that girls and boys adopt an appropriate gender identity, with girls pressured to avoid subjects such as physics
• in contrast, an absence of peer pressure from the opposite sex may explain why girls single sex schools are more likely to choose traditional boys subjects. The absences of boys may mean there is less pressure on girls to conform to restrictive stereotypes of what girls pressured to avoid subjects such as physics

Question 12

4. Gendered career opportunities

Answer 12

• an important reasons from differences in subject choice is the fact that employment is highly gendered: jobs tend to be sex typed as ‘mens’ or ‘womens’. Women’s jobs often involve work similar to that performed by housewives, such as childcare and nursing. Women are conertrated in a narrow range of occupations. Over half of all women’s employment falls within only four categories: clerical, secretarial, personal services and occupations such as cleaning
• this sex typing of occupations affects boys and girls ideas about what kinds of jobs are possible or acceptable. E.g, if boys get the message that nursery nurses are female, they will be less likely to opt for a course in childcare
• this also helps to explain why vocational courses are much more gender specific than academic courses, since vocational studies are by definition more closely linked to students career plans

Question 13

Gender vocational choice and class

Answer 13

• there is a social class dimension to choice of vocational course. Working class pupils in particular may make decisions about vocational courses that are based on a traditional sense of gender identity. E.g, most of the working class girls studied by fuller had ambitions to go into jobs such as child care or hair and beauty. This reflected their working class habits - their sense of what is realistic expectation for peeople like us.
• these ambitions may arise out of work experience placements, which often gendered and classed. E.g, fuller found that placements in feminine, working class jobs such nursery nursing and retail work were overwhelmingly the norm for the girls in her study
• fuller concludes that that the school was implicitly steering girls towards certain jobs - hence certain types of vocational course - through the work experience placements it offered them