Topic 4 - Gender differences in education Flashcards
external factors in gender differences in achievement
The impact of feminism
Changes in the family
Changes in women’s employment
Girls’ changing ambitions
The impact of feminism
The feminist movement has improved the rights of women as well as raising women’s expectations, self-esteem & motivation. Women are no longer strictly bound to the mother/ housewife role.
McRobbie (1994): Magazines such as Jackie in the 1970s emphasised the importance of getting married, whereas nowadays priorities have changed & women are faced with more positive role models in the media.
Changes in the family
increase in divorce rate
increase in cohabitation
increase in lone-parent families (usually female headed)
Changes affect girls’ attitudes to education. Women may need to support their families. Women are not willing to be supported by a man.
Changes in women’s employment
The 1970 Equal Pay Act: Makes it illegal to pay one sex more than another for work of equal value – pay gap halved.
Francis (2001) interviewed girls about their career aspirations & concluded that, due to increased employment opportunities, females have become extremely ambitious & aim for ‘high professions’ such as doctors & solicitors.
Girls’ changing ambitions
Girls’ ambitions are becoming more career-oriented.
Sharpe (1994): study shows changes to girls’ aspirations from 1970s to 1990s.
O’Connor (2006): marriage and children not major life plans.
Beck & Beck-Gernsheim (2001): individualisation means value is placed on achievement and self-sufficiency.
Fuller (2011): education central to identity.
Internal factors and gender differences in achievement
1.Equal opportunities policies
- Positive role models in school
- GCSE and coursework
- Teacher attention
- Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum
- Selection and league tables
- Equal opportunities policies
Teachers need to ensure both genders have equal opportunities
Policies:
GIST and WISE – to encourage girls to pursue non-traditional careers
National Curriculum – all students study same subjects
Boaler (1998) equal opportunities policies key in changing girls’ achievement
2 Positive role models in schools
significantly less female teaches who are in positions of leadership in school
3 GCSE and coursework
Mitsos & Browne (1998): girls more successful in coursework; spend more time, take care, meet deadlines, equipped for lessons.
4 Teacher attention
French & French (1993): boys get more attention, but this is negative
Francis (2001): boys more attention, but more harshly disciplined, low teacher expectations
Swann (1998): different communication style, boys dominant in whole class, girls prefer paired or small group
Teachers see girls as cooperative and so give more positive attention – leading to self-fulfilling prophecy
5 Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum
Changes to textbooks, reading schemes, learning materials.
Women no longer seen as purely housewives and mothers.
Weiner (1995): teachers challenge stereotypes; sexist images removed.
6 Selection and league tables
Marketisation policies (making schools compete for students – see Topic 6) have meant girls are favoured by schools.
Jackson (1998): league tables make high achieving girls attractive. Leads to self-fulfilling prophecy as girls likely to go to good schools.
Slee (1998) boys less attractive due to behavioural difficulties and exclusions.
Boys may give schools a bad image.
Liberal feminists
view of school
Celebrate progress made
Further progress from equal opportunities policies
Radical feminists
System is patriarchal (male dominated)
Sexual harassment in schools
Girls’ limited subject and careers choices
More male secondary heads
Women ignored in curriculum, e.g. history (compare to ethnocentric)
Gender pay gap after leaving education
Symbolic capital girls
Archer et al (2010):
conflict between working-class girls’ identity and the ethos of the school
working-class feminine identities for status from peers
Hyper-heterosexual identity, being loud, having a boyfriend
Hyper-heterosexual feminine identities
Girls aim to be ‘desirable’ and ‘glamorous’.
Similar to the idea of ‘Nike’ identities.
Status from peers
Conflict with school
too much jewellery
Wrong clothing
Makeup
Creates symbolic violence – their culture seen as worthless.
symbolic violence
working class culture is seen as worthless
Having a boyfriend earns symbolic capital:
lower aspirations
lower interest in university
lower interest in ‘masculine’ subjects
desire to ‘settle down’
Being loud meant not conforming to stereotypes:
conflict with teachers
further from ‘ideal pupil’
‘Successful’ working-class girls
Some working-class girls do achieve and go to university.
Evans (2009):
Interviewed working-class girls in south London comprehensive. Girls wanted to go to university to earn more money to help their families.
Archer (2010):
Working-class habitus – key feature is preference for staying local.
Prevents them attending elite universities – limiting success.
external boys
Boys and literacy
Globalisation and the decline of traditional men’s jobs
internal boys
Feminisation of education
Shortage of male primary school teachers
‘Laddish’ subcultures
The moral panic about boys
Boys and literacy
DCSF (2007):the ‘gender gap’ is the result of poor literacy among males. (The DCSF is now called the Department for Education.)
Reading is ‘feminised’.
Boys are socialised to be ‘active’, girls have ‘bedroom culture’.
Globalisation and the decline of traditional men’s jobs
Since the 1980s, ‘masculine’ jobs in manufacturing have moved abroad & thus male employment opportunities have been reduced.
Mitsos & Browne (1998) suggest that this has created a ‘crisis of masculinity’.
Feminisation of education
Sewell (2006) argues:
education has become ‘feminised’
education does not nurture ‘masculine’ traits of competitiveness and leadership
And the curriculum causes boys to underachieve:
coursework is a cause of boys’ underachievement
need a greater focus on outdoor activity and more exams
Shortage of male primary school teachers
DfES (2012): 14% of primary school teachers are male.
Some suggest boys need male teachers from an early age to impose strict discipline.
Are more male teachers really needed?
Francis (2006): two thirds of 708 year-olds did not think gender of a teacher matters.
‘Laddish’ subcultures
Epstein (1998): construction of ‘laddish’ subcultures in school. Working-class boys labelled sissies/gay if appear to be ‘swots’. ‘Real boys don’t work.’
Francis (2001):
Boys see schoolwork as effeminate.
Reject school to avoid being called ‘gay’.
Increase in laddish s/cultures due to more girls now in masculine areas.
The moral panic about boys
Ringrose (2013): moral panic about ‘failing boys’
Unemployable underclass – threat to social stability
Now policy moves to raise boys’ achievement
Policies for boys:
Ignore class disadvantage
Ignores problems faced by girls in school
Explanations for gender differences in subject choice
1 Gender role socialisation
2 Gendered subject images
3 Gender identity and peer pressure
4 Gendered career opportunities
Gender role socialisation
Fiona Norman (1988): Girls and boys are dressed differently, given different toys, encouraged to take part in different activities.
Eileen Byrne (1979):
Teachers encourage boys to be tough and to show initiative.
Girls are expected to be quiet and helpful and not rough or noisy
Gender role socialisation - gender domains
Children’s beliefs about ‘gender domains’ are shaped by their early experiences and expectations of adults (Browne and Ross, 1991).
They see some tasks as part of male or female ‘territory’ and therefore as relevant or irrelevant to themselves.
2 Gendered subject images
kelly - science is seen as a boys subject as pics in science textbooks are mainly of boy - gender domain, ‘its not for me’
Gender identity and peer pressure
Girls and sport:
Paechter – girls in sport not seen as feminine.
Dewar – sporty girls seen as ‘lesbian’.
Gendered career opportunities
Women – childcare and nursing
Traditional gender identities – working-class habitus
Factors impacting on pupils’ sexual & gender identities
Double standards of moral expectations of girls & boys
Verbal abuse of girls
The application of the male gaze to girls
Influence of male peer groups on expression of masculinity
Impact of female peer groups on policing of identity
Impact of teacher discipline on boys & girls
Hegemonic masculinity
Connell (1995):
Heterosexual masculine identity
Subordination of female/gay identities
Double standards
Lees (1993): sexual standards different, boys boast – girls called ‘slags’
Verbal abuse
Connell - slags/drags, ‘gay’, ‘queer’, ‘lezzie’ shape and reinforce male power
The male gaze
Mac an Ghaill - girls seen as sexual objects, reinforcing dominant heterosexual masculinity
Male peer groups
Mac an Ghaill - anti-school subcultures, class-based – ‘macho lads’/’dickhead achievers’/’real Englishmen’. Dominant version changes through school
Female peer groups
Ringrose, Currie - policing identity – idealised feminine identity, sexualised identity, ‘tramps’ who don’t conform, symbolic capital from boyfriends, ‘boffin’ identity
Teachers and discipline
Archer - boys told off for behaving like girls, verbal abuse of girls ignored, male teachers ‘rescuing’ female teachers
