Gender Differences in Education

• The gender gap in achievement

  -In starting school in 2013, teacher assessments at the end of the year one showed girls ahead of boys by 7-17 points. Girls were also better at concentrating.

  -At GCSE, the gender gaps sands about 10 points.

  -At AS/A-level, girls are more likely to sit, pas and get higher grades than boys. In 2013, 46.8% girls gained A or B- grades but only 42.2% of boys got the same.
• Gender- external factors


  -Many sociologists argue that gender differences in achievement and especially the more rapid improvement in girl's results, can best be explained by changes that have occurred in factors outside of school.
• 1. The impact of feminism


  -->Feminism is a social movement that strives for equal rights for women in all areas of life

  -->Although feminists argue that we have not yet achieved full equality between the sexes, the feminist movement has had considerable success in improving women's rights and opportunities through changes in the law.

  -->These changes were partly reflected in media images and messages. A good illustration of this comes from Angela McRobbie's(1994) study of girls' magazines. In the 1970s, they emphasized the importance of getting married and not being 'left on the shelf', whereas nowadays, they contain images of assertive, independent women.
• 2. Changes in the family

  -->Their have been major changes in the family since the 1970s:

  -an increase in divorce rates

  -an increase in cohabitation and a decrease in the number of first marriages

  -smaller families

  -->For example increased numbers of female-headed lone-parent families may mean more women need to take on a breadwinner role. This in turn creates a new adult role model.

  -->To achieve this independence, women need well-paid jobs and therefore good qualifications.

  -->Likewise, increases in the divorce rate may suggest to girls that it is unwise to rely on a husband to be their provider. Again, this may encourage girls to look at themselves and their own qualifications to make a living.
• 3. Changes in women's employment

  -->The 1970 Equal Pay Act makes it illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value, and the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act outlaws discrimination at work.

  -->Since 1975, the pay gap has gone from 30% to 15%.

  -->Some women are now breaking through the 'glass ceiling'- the invisible barrier that keeps them out of high-level professional and managerial jobs.

  -->Greater career opportunities and better pay better for women and the role models that successful career women offer, provide an incentive for girls to gain qualifications.
• 4. Girl's changing ambitions

  -->Sue Sharpe's (1994) interviews with girls in the 1970s and 1990s show a major shift in how they see their future.

  -->In 1974, the girls had low aspirations and believed educational success was unfeminine and unattractive. By the 1990s, girl's ambitions had changed and they had a different order of priorities- careers and being able to support themselves.

  -->Sharpe found that girls were more likely to see their future as independent women with careers rather than as dependent on their husband and his income.

  -->Beck and Beck-Gernsheim(2001) link this trend towards individualisation in modern society where independence is valued much more strongly than in the past.
• Evaluation


  -->Some w/c girls continue to have gender-stereotyped aspirations for marriage and children and expect to go into traditional low paid women's work.

  -->As Diane Reay (1998) argues, this reflects the reality of girls class position. Limit their job opportunities.

  -->Biggart (2002) found that w/c girls are more likely to face a precarious position in the labour market and to see motherhood as the only viable option for their futures.
• Gender- internal factors

  -->Internal factors include:

  -equal opportunities policies

  -positive role models

  -GCSE and coursework

  -teacher attention and classroom interaction....
• 1. Equal opportunities policies


  -->Policies such as GIST and WISE encourage girls to pursue careers in these non-traditional areas. Non-sexist careers advise has been provided and learning materials in science reflecting girls' interests have been developed.

  -->Similarly, the National curriculum in 1988 removed one source of gender inequality by making girls and boys study mostly the same subjects, which was often not the case previously.
• 2. Positive role models in school


  -->There has been an increase in the proportion of female teachers and heads(1992-2012).

  -->Female teachers are more likely to be particularly important role models as far as girls' educational achievement is concerned since, to become a teacher, the individual must undertake a lengthy and successful education herself.
• 3. GCSE and coursework

  -->Stephen Gorard(2005) found that the gender gap in achievement was fairly constant from 1975-1989, when it increased sharply because of the intro of GCSEs.

  -->Mitsos and Browne(1998) support this view. They conclude that girls are more successful in coursework because they are more conscientious and better organised than boys.

  -->Sociologists argue that these characteristics and skills are the result of early gender role socialisation in the family. However, Elwood(2005) argues that although coursework has some influence, it is unlikely to be the only cause of the gender gap because exams have much more influence on final grades.
• 4. Teacher attention


  -->When Jane and Peter French(1993) analysed classroom interaction, they found that boys received more attention because they attracted more reprimands.

  -->Swann(1998) also found gender differences in communication styles. Boys dominate in whole-class discussion whereas girls prefer pair-work and group-work and are better at cooperating and listening.

  -->These stereotypes may lead to self-fulfilling prophecy in which successful interactions with teachers promote girls' self-esteem and raise their achievement levels.
• 5. Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum

  -->Research in the 1970s and 80s found that reading schemes portrayed women mainly as housewives and mothers, that physics books showed them as frightened by science and that maths books depicted boys as more inventive.

  -->In general, sexist images have been removed to help raise girl's achievement by presenting them with more positive images of what women can do.
• 6. Selection and league tables


  -->David Jackson(1998) notes that the intro of exam league tables has improved opportunities for girls: high-achieving girls are more attractive to schools, whereas low-achieving boys are not.

  -->Roger Slee(1998) argues that boys are less attractive to schools because they are more likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties and are four times more likely to be excluded.
• Evaluation

  -->Liberal feminists celebrate the progress made so far in improving achievement. They believe that further progress is to be made through policies, positive role models and overcoming sexist attitudes.

  -->Radical feminists are more critical. While they recognise the improvements, they emphasise the system is still patriarchal and conveys the message that it's still a man's world. E.g sexual harassment of girls in school, women are under-represented in many areas of the curriculum.
• Identity, class and gender

  -->In 2013, only 40.6% of girls from poorer families(those with fsm) achieved five A*-C GCSEs, whereas over two-thirds of those without fsm did so.
• Symbolic Capital

  -->Archer et al (2010) says one reason for these differences is the conflict between w/c girls' feminine identities and the values and ethos of the school.

  -->Symbolic Capital refers to the status, recognition and sense of worth that we are able to obtain from others.

  -->Archer found that by performing their w/c feminine identities, the girls gained symbolic capital from their peers.
• Hyper-heterosexual feminine identities

  -->Many of the girls invested considerable time and effort in constructing 'desirable' and 'glamorous' hyper-heterosexual, feminine identities. The girls' performance of this femininity brought them status from their peer group.

  -->However, it also brought them conflict with the school. Teachers saw the girls' preoccupation with appearance as a distraction that prevented them engaging with education.

  --> Bourdieu describes this process as symbolic violence. Symbolic Violence is the harm done by denying someone symbolic capital, for example by defining their culture as worthless.
• 1. Boyfriends

  2. Being 'loud'

  3. W/C girls' dilemma

  1. While having a boyfriend brought some symbolic capital, it got in the way of schoolwork and lowered the girl's aspirations. This included losing interest in uni, studying 'masculine' subjects such as science or getting a professional career.

  2. Some working class adopted 'loud' feminine identities that often led them to be outspoken, independent and assertive, for example questioning the teacher's authority.

  3. Some girls tried to cope with this dilemma by defining themselves as 'good underneath' (despite the teacher's negative views). Archer argues that w/c feminine identities and educational success conflict with one another. W/c girls' investments in their feminine identities majorly cause their underachievement.
• Successful w/c girls

  -->Although w/c girls in general are likely to underachieve, some do succeed and go on to higher education. However, even they may be disadvantaged by their gender and class identities, as Sarah Evans(2009) shows in her study of 21 w/c sixth form girls in a south london comprehensive school.

  -->The girl's motivation reflected their w/c feminine identities. As Skeggs(1997) notes, 'caring' is a crucial part of this identity, and the girl's wish to remain at home and to contribute to their families.

  -->Evans demonstrates that, even for more successful w/c girls, the caring aspect of w/c feminine identity produces a desire to live at home with their families while studying. This results in their self-exclusion from elite unis further afield and places a limit on their success.
• Boys and achievement


  -->Recently, the gender gap in achievement has given rise to concern about boys falling behind.

  -->External factors include boys' poor literacy skills and the decline of traditional men's jobs.

  -->Internal factors include the feminisation of education, the shortage of male primary school teachers and the 'laddish' subcultures.
• 1. Boys and Literacy

  2. Globalisation and the decline of traditional men's jobs

  1. One reason for this may be that parents spend less time reading to their sons. Another may be that mothers do most of the reading thus it can be seen as a feminine activity. In addition, boy's leisure pursuits, such as football, do little to help develop their language and communication skills. In response, the gov introduced policies like the RAISING BOYS ACHIEVEMENT project and the NATIONAL LITERACY STRATEGY.

  2. Since the 1980s, there has been a significant decline in heavy industries such as iron and steel, shipbuilding, mining and engineering. Traditionally, these sectors of the economy mainly employed men. Mitsos and Browne claim that this decline in male opportunities has led to an 'identity crisis'. There has been a decline in manual w/c jobs requiring few qualifications.
• 3. feminisation of education

  4. shortage of male primary school teachers

  3. Tony Sewell is reported as claiming that boys fall behind because education has become feminised. He argues that some coursework should be replaced with final exams and a greater emphasis placed on outdoor adventure in the curriculum.

  4. the lack of male role models both at home and at school is said to be a cause of boy's underachievement. Only 14% of primary school teachers are male and according to Yougov(2007), 39% of 8-11 year old boys have no lessons whatsoever with a male teacher. Male teachers are better able to impose the strict discipline boys need in order to concentrate. If this view was correct it would suggest that primary schools need more male teachers.
• Are more male teachers really needed?

  -->Barbara Read(2008) is critical of the claims that the culture of primary schools is becoming feminised and that only male teachers can exert the firm discipline that boys need to achieve. She identifies two types of language:

  -A disciplinarian discourse: the teacher's authority is made explicit and visible for example through shouting.

  -A liberal discourse: The teacher speaks to the pupils as of they were an adult and expects them to be kind, sensible and respectful of the teacher.

  -->In her study of 51 primary school teachers, Read found that most teachers used the disciplinarian discourse to control pupils' behaviour.

  1. Most teachers favoured a 'masculine' discourse of control and disapproved of the claim that the culture of primary school has been feminised.

  2. It also disapproves of the claim that only male teachers can provide the stricter classroom culture in which boys are said to thrive.
• Laddish subcultures


  -->Debbie Epstein(1998) examined the way masculinity is constructed within school. She found that w/c boys are likely to be harassed, labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic abuse if they appeared to be swots.

  -->This is because in w/c culture, masculinity is equated with being tough and doing manual work. Non-manual work, and by extension schoolwork, is seen as effeminate and inferior.

  -->She argues that this is because as girls move into traditional masculine areas such as careers, boys respond by "becoming increasingly laddish in their effort to construct themselves as non-feminine"
• the moral panic about boys


  -->Jessica Ringrose(2013), contribute to the moral panic about 'failing boys'. This moral panic reflects a fear that underachieving w/c boys will grow up to become a dangerous, unemployable underclass that threatens social stability.

  -->Ringrose argues that this moral panic has caused a major shift in educational policy, which is now preoccupied with raising boys' achievements. The downsides of these policies:

  1. It ignores the problem of disadvantaged w/c and minority ethnic pupils.

  2. It ignores other problems girls faced in school e.g sexual harassment and bullying, self-esteem and identity issues and stereotyped subject choices.
• Evaluation


  -->Tracey McVeigj(2001) notes, the similarities in girls' and boys' achievement are far greater than the differences, especially when compared with class or ethnic differences.

  -->Figures show that class is a more important influence on a pupil's achievement than gender.

  -->Connolly(2006) suggests, certain combinations of gender, class and ethnicity have more effect than others.
• Gender and subject choice


  -->The National curriculum gives pupils little freedom to choose or drop subjects by making most subjects compulsory until 16.

  -->There are big gender differences in entries for A level subjects with boys opting for maths and phsyics and girls choosing subjects such as sociology, english and languages.

  -->This calls into question like effectiveness of policies such as WISE and GIST aimed at encouraging girls to take up subjects such as physics.
• Gender role socialisation


  -->Gender role socialisation is the process of learning the behaviour expected of males and females in society.

  -->Schools also play an important part. Eileen Byrne(1979) shows that teachers encourages boys to be tough and show initiative and not be weak or behave like sissies. Girls on the other hand are expected to be quiet and helpful.

  -->Naima Browne and Carol Ross(1991) argue that children's beliefs about 'gender domains' are shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults. By gender domains, they mean the tasks and activities that boys and girls see as male or female 'territory' and therefore as relevant to themselves.
• Gendered subject images


  -->Kelly argues that science is seen as a boys' subject for several reasons:

  -Science teachers are more likely to be men.

  -The examples teachers use often draw on boys' rather than girls' interests.

  -->Anne Colley(1998) notes that computer studies is seen as a masculine subject for two reasons: it involves working with machines-part of the male domain and the way it is taught is off-putting to females.

  -->Diana Leonard(2006) found that compared to pupils in mixed schools, girls in girls' schools were more likely to take maths and science A-levels, while boys in boys' schools were more likely to take English and languages.
• Gender identity and peer pressure

  -->Carrie Paechter(1998) 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 stereotype.

  -->In mixed schools, peers police one another's subject choices so that girls and boys adopt an appropriate gender identity with girls pressured to avoid subjects such as physics.

  -->The absence of boys may mean there is less pressure on girls to conform to restrictive stereotypes of what subjects they can study.
• Gendered career opportunities


  -->Over half of all women's employment falls within only 4 categories: clerical, secretarial, personal services and occupations such as cleaning.

  -->Most of the w/c girls studied by Carol Fuller(2011) had ambitions to go into jobs such as child care or hair and beauty.

  -->Fuller concludes that the school was implicitly steering girls towards certain types of jobs and hence certain types of vocational course- through the work experience placements it offered them.
• Pupils' sexual and gender identities


  -->Pupils experiences in school help to construct and reinforce their gender and sexual identities.

  -->These experiences may all contribute to reinforcing what Bob Connell(1995) calls 'hegemonic masculinity'- the dominance of heterosexual masculine identity and the subordination of female and gay identities.
• 1. Double standards

  2.Verbal Abuse


  1. double standard exists when we apply one set of moral standards to one group but a different set to another group.

  -Sexual conquest is approved of and given status by male peers and ignored by male teachers, but 'promiscuity' among girls attract negative labels.

  -Double standards can be seen as a form of social control that reinforces gender inequality by keeping females subordinate to males.

  2. Boys use name-calling to put girls down if they behave or dress in certain ways. Similarly, Paechter sees name-calling as helping shape gender identities and maintain male power.

  -Andrew Parker (1996) found that boys were labelled gay simply for being friendly with girls or female teachers.
• 3. The male gaze

  4. Male peer groups


  3. The way male pupils and teachers look girls up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance.

  -It is one of the ways boys prove their masculinity to their friends and is often combined with constant telling and retelling of stories about sexual conquests.

  4. Male peer groups also use verbal abuse. Boys in anti-subcultures often accuse boys who want to do well at school of being gay and effeminate.

  -The w/c 'macho lads' were dismissive of other w/c boys who worked hard and aspired to m/.c careers, referring to them as 'dickhead achievers'.

  -Redman and Mac an Ghaill(1997) found that the dominant definition of masculine identity changes from that of the macho lads in the lower school to that of the real Englishmen in the sixth form.
• 5. Female peer groups : policing identity


  -->Female peers police this identity and girls risk making themselves unpopular and being called a 'tramp' if they fail to conform.

  -->An idealised feminine identity of showing loyalty to the peer group, being non-competitive and getting along with everybody in the friendship culture.

  -->A sexualised identity that involved competing for boys in the dating culture.

  -->Shaming is thus a social control device by which schoolgirls police, regulate and discipline each others' identities.

  -->A boffin identity: girls who want to be successful educationally may feel the need to conform to the school's notion of the ideal feminine identity.

  -->However, as Francis (2010) found, m/c female boffins may respond in kind by defining other w/c girls as 'chavs'.
• Teachers and discipline


  -->Teachers also play a part in reinforcing dominant definitions of gender identity. Chris Haywood and Mairtin Mac an Ghaill (1996) found that male teachers told boys off for 'behaving like girls' and teased them when they gained lower marks in tests than girls.

  -->Male teachers often have a protective attitude towards female colleagues, coming into their classes to 'rescue' them by threatening pupils who are being disruptive.