Gender identity and subject choice Flashcards
How are gender identities formed in school
Double standards
Verbal abuse
The male gaze
Male peer groups
Female peer groups
Teachers and discipline
Double standards (gender identity)
Double standards means applying one set of morals to one group and a different set of moral to another group, but in relation to the same behaviour.
Lees – boys boast about and exaggerate their sexual prowess and experience, while girls who are seen as dressing provocatively are labelled as ‘slags’. So there is a double standard in expectations of boys and girls’ sexual behaviour.
Feminists say this double standard is part of the patriarchal ideology designed to keep women subordinate to men as their sexual behaviour is more controlled by society.
Verbal abuse (gender identity)
Connell – students use a rich vocabulary of abuse to reinforce
social expectations about gender roles and sexuality. For
example, boys use verbal abuse such as name calling to put
girls down if they dress or behave in a certain way.
Paetcher – boys use name calling of girls and other boys who
are seen as ‘effeminate’ to maintain male power and
reinforce gender norms.
Parker - found that boys were called homophobic names
simply for being friends with girls regardless of their actual
sexual orientation.
Male gaze (gender identity)
Male gaze is the way in which men look women up and down,
seeing them as sexual objects and judging them on their
appearance.
Mac an Ghaill sees the male gaze as a form of surveillance
through which dominant heterosexuality is enforced. It
reinforces the boys’ masculinity by devaluing femininity which helps keep girls ‘in their
place’.
Male peer groups (gender identity)
Male peer groups use verbal abuse to reinforce their definition of masculinity.
Epstein and Willis – boys in counter-school subcultures see high achieving boys as effeminate and subject them to homophobic abuse
Mac an Ghaill – found that boys’ gender identities are also linked to their class background. Working class boys’ understanding of masculinity is tied in with toughness and being macho. They see hard work as effeminate and bully other working class boys who do well at school. Middle class boys’ masculinity is tied in with effortless achievement and being a ‘real Englishman’. They present their educational achievement as having happened without any effort, when in fact they work hard, but in secret (at home). The working class boys who work hard and go onto 6th Form change their identity from macho to real Englishman.
Female peer groups (gender identity)
Ringrose found that being popular was crucial to girls’ identity. As they get older, they experience conflict between loyalty to their female friends by being non-competitive and supportive of
each other (an idealised feminine identity) and competing for boys in the dating scene (a sexualised identity).
Girls use shaming as a form of social control against each other thus regulating each other’s identities. Currie found that girls risk either being labelled as ‘sluts’ and excluded from friendship groups if they seem too competitive over boys.
Similarly, girls who do not compete for boys face ‘frigid’ shaming.
Reay found that girls who want to do well at school project a boffin identity which is characterised by a lack of interest in boys or popular culture.
Teachers and discipline(gender identity)
Haywood and Mac an Ghaill – male teachers tend to
tease boys if they ‘behave like girls’ or do less well in
exams than girls. They tend not to discipline boys when
they verbally abuse girls as that is seen as ‘normal’
behaviour for boys.
Askew and Ross – male teachers have a ‘protective’
attitude towards female teachers thus reinforcing the
view that women are weak.
Factors affecting subject
choice
Gender role socialisation
Gendered subject images
Peer pressure
Gendered career
opportunities
Gender role socialisation (sub choice)
is the process of learning how to behave according to society’s
expectations of males and females.
Browne and Ross – gender domains – activities boys and girls see as appropriate to their sex, e.g. mending a car = boys’ domain, shopping = girls’ domain. This affects
how they react to specific tasks, e.g. girls find Maths tasks easier if they are about calculating the price of food, while boys find such tasks easier if they are about cars. However, Maths textbooks tend to use examples boys can relate to so Maths is seen as a boys’ subject and they choose to study it.
Norman – from an early age, boys and girls are dressed differently (blue and pink) and given different toys (dolls and cars). Parents tend to reward boys for being active and
girls for being passive. This teaches boys to be masculine and girls to be feminine.
Gendered subject images (sub choice)
Different subjects are seen as either boys or girls’ subjects.
Kelly – science = boys’ subject because Sci teachers tend to be men, textbooks use examples which appeal to masculine gender domains, boys monopolise the use of equipment.
Colley - Computer Sci is seen as a boys’ subject as it involves working with machines (male gender domain).
Evaluation of subject images
Evaluation – Leonard – students in single sex schools tend to hold less stereotyped images of subjects so in an all girls school, students are more likely to pick sciences, ICT,…
Peer pressure (sub choice)
Peer pressure can encourage or discourage students from
taking certain subjects.
Peatcher - boys tend not to choose Drama, Dance or Music for
fear of a negative reaction from their peers as these subjects
are seen as part of the female gender domain. Similarly, girls
tend not to choose Sport, which is seen as male gender
domain.
Dewar – girls are subjected to homophobic abuse if they
appear to be interested in sport.
Gendered career opportunities (sub choice)
Most jobs are either seen as women’s or men’s.
Women’s jobs – those which involve caring and reflect the activities of housewives
– childcare, nursing, secretarial,…
This can affect subject choice as it gives students ideas about which jobs are suitable and acceptable for which sex.
Fuller - this is often the result of career advice given to students by teachers/career advisors and work experience placements students are sent to. For example, placements in retail or nursery schools tends to be given to girls. This then encourages girls to choose vocational courses such as H&SC.
+c= gendered career opportunities
However, Fuller also found that vocational courses such as H&SC are more likely to be chosen by w/c girls because caring is part of their w/c habitus which make those careers appear suitable for ‘people like us’.
