Topic 4 - Gender

Question 1

What are the 6 differences in gender factors

Answer 1

External
Internal
Girls achievement 
Boys and achievement 
Subject choice 
Gender and identity

Question 2

What are the 4 external factors of gender differences in achievement ?

Answer 2

Impact of feminism
Changes in the family
Changes in womens employment
Girls changing ambitions

Question 3

How has feminism impacted the achievement of different genders?

Answer 3

Feminism strives for equal rights for women. Since 1960 they have challenged the traditional stereotype of womens role as mothers and housewives. Although they believe they have not yet achieved full equality, they have made a considerable amount of success

• Raising womens expectation and self esteem

McRobbie did a study of girls magazines and found that in 1979 they emphasised the importance of getting married, wheres now, magazines now contain images of assertive and independent women

Question 4

What changes in the family have cause change in gender achievement?

Answer 4

Changes since 1970:
Increase in divorce rate
Increase in cohabitation and decrease in no of first marriages
Increase in lone parent families
Smaller families

• again changing girls attitudes towards education (eg, lone parent families may mean women need to take on the breadwinner role and girls will see that women can manage independently/ and to do so they will need to gain good qualifications
  They dont need to rely on a husband as a provider, encouraging girls to work harder

Question 5

How have changes in womens employment effected gender achievement?

Answer 5

1970 Equal Pay Act - makes it illegal to pay women significantly less than men for equal work

1970 Sex Discrimination Act - outlines the discrimination of women at work. Since then, the women vs men gap halved from 30% to 15%.

The amount of women in employment has risen from 50% in 1970 to 67% in 2013.

Growth of part time and the service sector has given women many opportunities. Some women are also breaking the ‘glass roof’ that prevents them from high level professional jobs.

This has encouraged girls to see their future in terms if paid work rather than house wives which pushes them to succeed and provide an incentive for girls to gain good qualifications

Question 6

How has the ambition if girls changed up to now?

Answer 6

1974 - girls had low aspirations, believing education was unfeminine and unattractive. There priorities were ‘love, marriage, husbands, children, jobs’

1990s - girls ambitions changed and had a different order of priorities- careers and being able to provide themselves. Sharpes found that women are more likely to see their future as independent with a career rather than dependant on husband and income

Connors 2006 study of teenagers found that marriage and children were not part of their major plan

Question 7

What are the 6 internal factors of gender differences in achievement?

Answer 7

Equal opportunity policies
Selection & league tables
Positive role models
Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum 
Teacher attention
GCSE and coursework

Question 8

How have equal opportunity policies effected gender achievements?

Answer 8

Feminists have had major impacts on the education system. Policy makers are much more aware of gender issues and teachers are more sensitive to avoid stereotyping - boys and girls entitled to same opportunities

GIST (girls into science / technology) and WISE (Women into science and engineering) encourage girls to persevere non traditional careers. Non sexist advise and role models are now present for girls in education.

National curriculum in 1998 made it so all boys & girls study mostly the same subjects. Bealer sees the equal opportunity policies as a major reason for girls success

Question 9

How has selection and league tables effected gender achievement?

Answer 9

Marketisation policies gave created a more competitive climate in which schools see girls as desirable recruits because they see better results

David Jackson notes that league tables has improved opportunities for girls as higher achieving girls are attracted to schools while low achieving boys aren’t

Slee argues boys are less attracted to schools as they are more likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties and are 4x more likely to be excluded
As a result, boys are seen as ‘liability students’ - obstacles to the league tables

Question 10

How have positive role models in schools effected achievement?

Answer 10

Increase in female teachers in senior postions act as role models to girls - showing that they can achieve positions of importance and giving them non traditional goals to aim for.
Women teachers are particularly important role models as to become a teacher, the individual must undertake a lengthy and successful education herself

Question 11

How has teacher attention effected gender achievement?

Answer 11

The way teachers interact with boys and girls differ. Jane and Peter French found boys recieve more attention as they attracted more reprimands. Frances found that whilst boys recieve more attention, they were disciplined more harshly and felt picked on by teachers, who tended to have low expectations of them
Swann found boys dominate class discussion, whereas girls prefer pair work or group work and are better at listening and cooperating. 

Teachers respond positively to girls as their seen as cooperative whilst boys are seen as potentially disrupt. This may lead to SFP where successful interactions with teachers promote go self esteem

Question 12

How has challenging stereotypes in the curriculum changed gender achievement?

Answer 12

Some say removing gender stereotypes from textbooks, reading schemes and other materials has removed a barrier to girls achievement. 70s & 80s research show that textbooks portrayed women as housewives and mothers, whilst physics books showed women as frightened by science.

Question 13

What are the 6 areas of girls achievement?

Answer 13

Symbolic capital
Hyper heterosexual feminine identity
Boyfriends
Being loud
WC girls dilemma
Successful WC girls

Question 14

How does symbolic capital effect girls achievement?

Answer 14

Feminists like Archer suggest a reason for class differences in girls achievement id the conflict between WC girls feminine identity and the values of the school.

Archers study shows how WC girls gained symbolic captial from peers as in status and recognition but this conflicted with the school, preventing their educational status and economical capital. She found several things that these girls do to gain a value of sense of self

Question 15

What is hyper heterosexual identity and whats its effects?

Answer 15

Gaining status by spending a considerable amount of money and time on their looks.
They combined black urban american styles with unisex sportswear & ‘sexy’ clothes, make up and hairstyles.

This causes conflict with the schools rules and some are punished. Teachers see this preoccupation with appearance as a distraction from education

Question 16

How do boyfriends for WC girls effect their education?

Answer 16

Girls would use boyfriends to gain symbolic capital but also got in the way of school work and lowers girls aspirations. Boys may deter girls interests in more ‘manly’ labeled subjects - making them aspire to ‘settle down’, work locally and have children

Question 17

How has being loud as a WC girl gaining status effected their achievement?

Answer 17

Some girls adopted ‘loud’ feminine identities that often led them to be outspoken, assertive and independent - eg, questioning teachers authorities. This conflicted with the schools “ideal female pupil’ and brought conflict with teachers who interpreted their behavior as aggressive not assertive

Question 18

What is the WC dilemma of girls achievement?

Answer 18

WC girls are faced with the choice of gaining symbolic capital from peers by conforming to a hyper heterosexual feminine identity OR. gaining economical capital by reflecting MC identity and conforming to the school notions of a respectable ideal feminine pupil

Question 19

What problems effect successful WC girls achievement

Answer 19

Although some WC girls do succeed, they still may be disadvantaged by their gender and class identities. Evans study of 21 WC girls in 6th form found that the girls wanted to go uni to increase their earning power: however this was not for them but for their families.

Skegg notes ‘caring’ is part of the WC identity and so reflects why they want to stay at home and contribute to their families. They may fear the potentially ‘alien’ MC environment or fear dept. Girls are self excluding from elite universities

Question 20

What are the 5 factors effecting boys and achievement ?

Answer 20

‘Laddish’ Subcultures 
Shortage of male PS teachers
Boys & literacy
Feminism of Education 
Globalisation

Question 21

What is laddish subcultures and how does it effect boys achievement

Answer 21

Epstein examines how WC masculinity is constructed in schools. WX boys who worked at school were labelled and abused, even called gay. She says ‘real boys’ dont work, if they do they get bullied

Francis said girls are less concerned about being labelled by peers as ‘swots’.

WC masculinity is all about being tough and doing manual work, the opposite is seen as effeminate and inferior.

Question 22

How has the shortage of mile primary school teachers effected boys achievement

Answer 22

Lack of positive role models at home and school may be causing underachievement. 16% of PS teachers are male. 42% of boys 8-11 said male teachers made them work harder and behave better. However
Francis found 2/3 of 7-8yrs olds said it doesn’t matter

Question 23

How does boys and their literacy effect their achievement

Answer 23

Parents spend less time reading to their sons. Women do most reading to their kids so its seen as feminine.
Boys leisure pursuits such as football and computer games - which do little to improve communication skills - whilst girls have a ‘bedroom culture’ based on staying in and talking

Question 24

How has the feminism of education effected boys and their achievement?

Answer 24

Sewell says school are feminine institutions that do not nature masculine traits like competitiveness and leadership, but celebrate skills like methodical working and attentiveness in class. Mitsos and Browne agree - it suits girls, how they work, being neat, meeting deadlines while boys seem to prefer final exams to ‘cram’ information. Coursework i s being removed from GCSE’s which they may well benefit from

Question 25

How has globalisation effected boys achievement

Answer 25

Since 1980s theres been a significant decline in mens jobs (heavily industries) such as steel, ship building, mining, etc due to globalisation (industries moving to developing countries).

Mitsos and Browne say this had left to an identity crisis for WC men believing that they cant get a ‘proper job’ - which undermines their motivation and self esteem

Question 26

What are the 4 reasons for gender differences in subject choices ?

Answer 26

Gender role socialisation
Subject images
Gender identity & peer pressure
Gendered career opportunity

Question 27

How does gender role socialisation effect subject choice?

Answer 27

Norman - boys and girls, from an early age, are dressed differently, given different toys and encouraged to take part in different subjects

Bryne - teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative - not be weak or ‘act like sissies’. - whist girls are expected to be quiet, neat, helpful, clean

Murphy and Elwood - boys & girls have different tastes in books leading to their subject choice. Boys - hobby interests. Girls - stories

Question 28

What does Browne and Ross say suggest about gender domains

Answer 28

That children are socialised to be happy around their own gender and are more confident to engage in activities . Boys like masculine tasks whilst girls like activities involving caring or empathy

Question 29

How have subject images effected gender differences in subject choice?

Answer 29

Kelly argues that science is seen as a boys subject for many reasons:
• scinece teachers are mostly men
• examples teacher use, and in text books, often draw on boys interests
• in science lessons, boys monopolise the apparatus and dominate the labatory

Anne Colley similarly argues IT is masculine it involves working with machines, the way its taught and the abstract tasks, formal teaching and few opportunities for group work

Question 30

How has gender identity and peer pressure effected gender differences in subject choice?

Answer 30

Other students may apply pressure to another student if they disapprove of their choice (boys tend to opt out of music and arts as they fall our of their gender domain and attract negative responses from peers

Paechter found pupils see sporty and scientific subjects as manly. Girls who choose this have to deal with an image that contradicts their conventional female stereotypes. Girls avoid these subjects and being called a ‘butch/gay’.

Question 31

Why do girls in single sex schools tend to choose more traditionally boy subjects

Answer 31

As theirs an absence of peer pressure from opposite sexes

Question 32

How has gender career opportunity effected subject choice?

Answer 32

Jobs tend to be sex types as ‘men’ or ‘womens’ professions. Womens jobs often involve work similar to those performed by housewives, such as childcare and nursing. Over 1/2 womens employment falls within only 4 categories: clerial, secreatarol, personal service and occupations such as cleaning

Question 33

What are the 6 areas under pupils sexual and gender identities?

Answer 33

Double standards
Verbal abuse
The male glaze
Male peer groups
Female peer groups: policing identity
Teachers and discipline

Question 34

What are double standards and how do they effect the achievement of different genders?

Answer 34

Applying one set of moral standards to one group but different set to another group

Sue lee- double standards of morality - boys boast about sexual exploits while boys are called slags for doing the sane, not having a steady boyfriend or dressing in a certain way. Sexual conflict id approved of and given status by male peers and ignored by make teachers.

Question 35

What do feminists say about double standards?

Answer 35

Feminists see this as an example of patriarchal ideology that justifies male power and devalues women

Question 36

How does verbal abuse effect the achievements of genders?

Answer 36

Boys use name calling to bring down girls if they behave or dress in certain ways. Lees found that boys called girls ‘slags’ if they appeared to be sexually available and - ‘drags’ if they didnt

Paetcher says name calling as helping to shape gender identity and maintain male power. The use of negative labels such as “gay, queer, lezzie” are ways pupil police others sexual identity’s. Parker found that boys were labelled gay just for being friendly with girls or female teachers

Question 37

How does the male glaze show differences in gender identities?

Answer 37

The way male pupils and teachers look girls up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and judging them on appearance- boys proving their masculinity to their friends to run the risk of being ‘gay’ - Mac & Ghail

Question 38

How do male peer groups show gender differences in schools?

Answer 38

Boys use verbal abuse within peer groups to show masculinity. Epstein and Willis say they even call boys that work hard ‘gay’. Boys with anti-school subcultures.

Mac & Ghail found peer found peer groups reproduce a range of different class based masculine gender identities. WC ‘macho lads’ were dismissive of WC students who worked hard to be MC ‘dickhead achievers’. Middle class ‘real Englishmen’ present themselves as succeeding without trying while actually working hard secretly.

Question 39

How do female peer groups and policing identities affect their achievement?

Answer 39

WC girls gain symbolic capital by perfoming a hyper hetrosexual identity - girls aim is to be popular. As girls make transition from a girls friendship culture into heterosexual dating culture they found tension being
•an idealised feminine identity (showing loyalty to group, being non competitive, getting along with everyone)
• sexualised identity - competing for boys in the dating culture

Slut shaming Vs Frigid shaming
- ‘boffin identity’ - girls who want to succeed have to perform an asexual identity, lacking interest in boys/fashion

Question 40

How does teachers and discipline play a role on gender identities?

Answer 40

Male teachers told boys off for ‘behaving like girls’, teasing them when they get lower scores than girls etc. Blamed girls for boys verbal abuse and didnt care.

Male teachers have a protective attitude over female teachers, protecting them from threatening pupils etc, reinforcing the idea that women cannot cope alone