Gender subject choice/ pupils sexual & gender identities Flashcards
What are the 4 explanations for gender differences in achievement?
- gender role socialisation
- gendered subject images
- gender identity & peer pressure
- gendered career opportunities
How has gender role socialisation affected differences in subject choice?
- Norman > from an early age girls and boys are dressed differently, given different toys & encouraged to take part in different activities
- e.g. girls are given dolls & cooking sets (associated with caregiving) while boys are given action figures, cars (associated with strength & courage)
- linked to what** Browne & Ross **call gender domains > children now see different activities as either male or female territory thus more confident in engaging in tasks they see as part of their gender domain
What does gender role socialisation explain?
- the differences in vocational studies e.g. health and social care is female dominated as it involves caring & understanding
- while engineering is male dominated as it involves strength & initiative
What are criticisms of gender role socialisation a an explanation for gender differences in subject choice?
- Postmodernists argue that individuals now have freedom to define their identities & subject choices > gender subject preferences are no longer fixed & are diminishing allowing for greater diversity
- may be as a result of peer influences or media representations of gender roles than family upbringing
- functionalist view gender role socialisation as a way of maintaining social stability
- structural factors may limit choice e.g. school curriculum or teacher expectations
How has gendered subject images affected differences in subject choice?
- Kelly argues that science is seen as a boys subject for several reasons e.g. science teachers are more likley to be men, examples teachers use draws on boys interest rather than girls
- Similary, **Colley **> computer science is seen as a masculine subject because it involves working with machines (male gender domain) > task tend to be abstract which is off putting to females
How has gender identity & peer pressure affected dfifferences in subject choice?
- peers apply pressure to an individual if they disaprove of his or her choice e.g. boys tend to opt out of music & dance because they fall outside their gender domain > attracts negative reaction from peers
- ** Paetcher ** > found that because pupils see sport as mainly part of the male gender domain girls who are sporty have to cope with an image that goes against their conventional female sterotype > girls likley to pt out of sport
-
Dawer> male students would call girls lesbian or butch if they appeared to be interested in sport
( talk about verbal abuse in para)
Evaluation of the view that gender identity & peer pressure has affected differences in subject choice
- support from Lee and paetcher > verbal abuse
- evidence from single sex schooling, girls are likely to choose traditional boys subjects > abscence of opposite gender means people are less likley to conform to restrictive stereotypes
How has gendered career opportunities affected differences in subject choice?
- employment is highly gendered > jobs tend to be sex typed as either mens or womens
- women are concentrated in a narrow range of occupations e.g. secretarial, childcare, nursing
- affects boys and girls ideas of what jobs are possible or acceptable
- explains differences in vocational subjects
Evaluation of the view that gender subject images affect differences in subject choice
- social class differences e.g. w/c girls by Fuller had ambitions to go into hair and beauty as this reflected their w/c habitus (their sense of what is a realistic expectation)
- career opportunities have become increasingly gender neutral, workplace has become more feminized> yet traditional subject choices persist (other factors)
- liberal feminist argue that educational policies have reduced barriers to many professions
What are the 6 ways in which pupils experiences at school help to construct & reinforce their gender identities?
- double standrads
- male gaze
- male peer groups
- female peer groups
- teacher and discipline
How has double standards and verbal abuse reinforced gender identities?
- **Lees ** >identifies a double standard of sexual morality in which boys boast about their own sexual exploits but call a girl a ‘slag’ if she dresses a certain way or doesn’t have a BF
- promiscuity among girls attracts negative lables
- feminists see as example of patriachal ideology that justifies male power & devlaues women
- verbal abuse used to police peers, girls called slags if they appeared sexually availabale & boys gay
- Lee & Paetcher note how these labels bear no relation to pupils sexual behaviour > simply to reinforce gender identities
How has the male gaze reinforced gender identities?
- Mac an Ghaill> visual aspect to the way pupils control identities e.g. male pupils & teachers look girls up & down seeing them as sexual objects
- see the male gaze as a form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced
How has female peer groups reinforced gender identities?
- Archer > girls gain symbolic capital froom their female peers by perfroming a hyper-hetereosexual feminine identity > female peers policied this identity & girls risked making themselves unpopular
- girls who want to be successful educationally may feel the need to conform to schools notion of the ideal feminine pupil identity > risk being given the identity of ‘boffin’ & excluded by other girls
How has teachers & discipline reinforced gender identities?
- Haywood and Mac an Ghaill > found that male teachers told boys of for behaving like girls & tended to ignore verbal abuse of girls & blamed them for attracting it e.g skirt too low
- Askew & Ross> show how male teachers behaviour can subtly reinforce messages about gender e.g. they have a prootective attitude towards female colleagues coming into their classes to rescue them by threatening disruptive pupils > reinforces idea that women can’t cope alone
Evaluation of these ways as helping to construct gender identities
- postmodernist argue that gender identities are increasingly fluid > making it harder for these to reinforce traditional norms
- some argue that these do not always reinforce gender identities (not inevitable) but may provoke resistance & lead to challenges against traditional norms
- Interactionist argue this ignores agency in gender formation< assumes individuals passively accept gender reinforcement as they can resist