Topic 4

• Impact of feminism:

  • Improved rights of women
  • Women no longer have to be housewives
• Changes in the family:

  • Increased divorce rates
  • Women are not willing to be supported by a man
• Changes in women employment:

  • Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act
• Sharpe

  Girls changing ambitions:

  • Ambitions changing from marriage and children to paid work
  • Working class more likely to see motherhood as an option due to unstable job market
• Equal Opportunities Act:

  • GIST program encourages girls to take up non-traditional jobs
• Positive role models in school:

  • 87% of primary school teachers are women
  • Girls feel more comfortable
  • Study shows pupils don't care about gender of teacher
• Mitsos and Browne

  GCSE and coursework:

  • Girls are more successful in coursework, meet deadlines, and spend more time on it
  • Exams have more value, so it doesn't matter if girls do better in coursework
• French and French

  Teacher attention:

  • Boys get more negative attention
  • Teachers focus more on boys than girls, leading to girls being ignored
• Who talks about textbook imagery and removing sexist images?


  Weiner
• League tables:

  • Girls more likely to do well as they look good on league tables
  • Self-fulfilling prophecy
• School environment:

  • Patriarchal school system
  • More male secondary heads
  • Limited subject choices
  • Hyper heterosexual identities
• Boys and literacy:

  • Seen as feminine activity for mothers to read to children
• Mitsos and browne

  Decline of traditional jobs:

  • Identity crisis for men
  • Feminisation of education

  Decline has been in jobs that require little qualifications.
• Gendered subject imagery:

  • Boys dominate in maths and science textbooks
• Sexual and gender identities:

  • Double standards
  • Men view women as objects
  • Female peer groups seek symbolic capital from boyfriends