Gender and subject choice

• Leonard 2006 - Single sex schooling

  • compared to a mixed school girls in a girls schools were more likely to choose maths or science at a levels and boys were likely to choose english or languages
  • challenged and contradicted traditional gender domains
• overview

  • continues to be a fairly traditional pattern of 'boys' subjects and 'girls' subjects
  • boys still tend to opt for subjects such as maths and physics whilst girls are more likely to chose modern languages
• national curriculum

  • In the National Curriculum, most subjects are compulsory
  • where choice is provided, girls and boys choose differently
• AS and A-levels

  • In post-16 education, there is more choice available and big gender differences emerge
  • e.g. boys likely to choose maths and physics and girls are likely to choose sociology and english
  • these differences are mirrored in subject choices at university
  • questions the effectiveness of policies such as WISE and GIST
• vocational courses

  • prepare students for particular careers
  • in vocational training gender segregation is at its greatest
  • only 11% of construction apprentices are female
  • only 1 in 100 childcare apprentices are boys
• factors responsible for gender differences in subject choice

  • Gender socialisation and gender domains
  • Gendered subject images + single sex schooling
  • Gender identity and peer pressure
  • Gendered career opportunities
• gender role socialisation

  • Gender role socialisation involves learning the behaviour expected of males and females
  • early socialisation shapes childrens gender identity
  • Norman 1988 - notes that from early ages, boys/girls are encouraged to dress differently, play with different toys and do different activities
  • Bryne 1979 - shows that teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative, and girls are expected to be clean, quiet and helpful
  • as a result boys/girls develop different reading tastes, with boys preferring factual texts and girls preferring fiction
  • Elwood 1998 states that this is how subject choices are impacted
• gender domains

  • Browne and Ross 1991 argue that childrens beliefs about gender domains are shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults
  • Boys focus on how things work, girls focus on feelings
  • This explains why boys pick science/maths and girls choose humanities
• gender domains

  • The tasks/activities that boys and girls feel most comfortable and in their territory with
• gender subject images

  • the gender image of a subject affects who will want to choose it
  • Science is seen as a boys' subject because most teachers are men, textbook examples and resources draw on boys' interests, and boys monopolise on lab equipment
  • Computer studies is seen as a male subject because it works with machines (part of the male gender domain) and tasks are abstract, while girls prefer group work
• gender identity and peer pressure

  • Subject choice can be influenced by peer pressure
  • pupils will make it clear if they disapprove of a subject choice, e.g. boys dropping out of music as it's out of their gender domain and attract negative peer reports
• Paechter 1998 - gender identity and peer pressure

  • found that because pupils see sport as mainly within the male gender domain girls who are 'sporty' have to cope with an image that contradicts the conventional female stereotype
  • may explain why more girls opt out of sport
• Dewar 1990 - gender identity and peer pressure

  • a study of American college students found that male students would call girls 'lesbian' or 'butch' if they appeared to be interested in sport
• gendered career opportunities

  • differences in subject choice is the fact that employment is highly gendered
  • jobs tend to be sex-typed as 'mens' and 'womens'
  • womens jobs often involve work similar to that performed by housewives such as childcare and nursing
  • Women's jobs fall into 4 narrow categories - clerical, secretarial, personal services and occupations like cleaning
  • This sex-typing of jobs affects subject choices - boys won't pick a course in childcare if they see that childcare jobs are for women
  • helps to explain why vocational courses are much more gender specific than academic courses
• gender, vocational choice and class

  • there is a social class dimension to choice of vocational course
  • WC pupils in particular may make decisions about vocational courses that are based on a traditional sense of gender identity
  • research by Fuller 2011 found that WC girls has ambitions to go into jobs such as childcare and beauty
  • reflected their working-class habitus and what they can expect of 'people like us'
  • these ambitions may arise out of work experiences placements which are often gendered and classed