Topic 4- Gender Differences in Education Flashcards
what has feminism done to women to help improve gender differences in achievement?
- raised women’s expectations and self esteem
- improved ambitions
give 4 examples of how family has changed since 1970s
- increase in divorce rate
- increase in cohabitation
- increase in single parent families
- smaller families
give 4 examples of how women’s employment has changed in recent decades
- 1970 equal pay act makes it illegal to pay women less
- since 1975 pay gap between men and women has halved from 30%-15%
- proportion in women in employment has risen from 53% in 1991 to 67% in 2013
- women are breaking ‘glass ceiling’ which was a barrier which prevented them to have high level jobs
explain sue sharpes study on women and their ambitions
- interviewed girls in 1970s and 1990s
- in 1970s girls had low aspirations and thought success wasnt’t feminine
- they prioritised love and marriage and children
- 1990s they had changing ambitions and they wanted to have careers and see their future as independant
what two policies are an example fo encouraging girls to pursue careers in non traditional areas?
- GIST
- WISE
what happened in the curriculum which made genders more equal?
- making girls and boys study mostly the same subjects
how has role models in schools help girls?
- there are increasing numbers of women teachers and heads
- they act as role models for girls and give them goals to aim for
what do people say about girls and coursework?
- girls do better in coursework and generally boys are less good at it
what did mitsos and browne 1998 say about girls as a result of them doing better in coursework?
girls
* spend more time on their work
* take care in presentation
* better at meeting deadlines
* bring right equipmrnt and materials to lessons
what is said about teacher attention in schools?
- boys get more4 as they have to be disciplined more
- teachers give more positive attention to girls as they don’t disrupt
what has been done in textbooks to remove gender stereotypes?
- removal of gender stereotyped images for example a man on a maths book
what do liberal feminists say about girls achievement?
- celebrate progress made so far in girls achievement
- believe further progress will be made
what do radical feminists say on girls’ achievement?
- recognise girls are achieving more
- emphasise the patriarchal system is still there
who came up with the concept ‘symbolic capital’
louise archer 2010
what is symbolic capital?
status, recognition and self worth that we obtain from others
what strategies did girls adopt to gain symbolic capital?
- hyperheterosexual feminine identity
- having a boyfriend
- being ‘loud’
how did hyperheterosexual feminine identities lead to problems at school?
- punished for wrong appearance
- their worry to look a way distracted them from school
- schools ‘othered’ girls and said they were incapable of educational success
how do boyfriends affect girls’ achievement?
- got in the way of schoolwork and lowered aspirations
- lost interest in going to university and didn’t want to stufy ‘masculine’ subjects
- some drop out if they are pregnant
how does being ‘loud’ affect girls at school?
- brought conflict with teachers as girls questioned their authority
what is the working class girls’ dilemma
gaining a symbolic capital or gaining an educational capital
what are 2 external factors to explain boys falling behind?
- boys and literacy
- decline of traditional men’s jobs
what are 3 internal factors to explain boys falling behind?
- feminisation of education
- shortage of male primary school teachers
- ‘laddish’ subcultures
how has life outside school affected boys’ literacy?
- parents spend less time reading to their sons as it is seen as a feminine thing
- boys prefer spending time outside so do not read in their free time
- so do not practice literacy so is worse as a result
what has the decline of traditional mens jobs done to boys?
- led to an identity crisis for men
- little prospect of getting a job
