External factors

• Major changes in families since the 1970s.

  • Increase in divorce rate
  • Increase in cohabitation/ decrease in first marriages.
  • Increase in lone-parent families.
  • Smaller families.
• Changes in family are affecting girls attitudes towards education.

  • Increase of female lone-parent families can lead to more female bread-winner roles.
  • Women need well-paid jobs.
  • Girls will need to be independent.
• Important changes in women's employment

  • 1970 Equal Pay act - illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value.
  • 1975 Sex Discrimination Act outlaws' discrimination at work.
  • Women in employment has risen from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013.
  • Women are breaking through the glass ceiling.
• Changes in women's employment have encouraged girls to view their future in terms of paid work rather than housework.
• Changes in girls' aspirations

  The perspective that changes in the family and employment are producing changes in girls' ambitions is supported by evidence from research. An example of this is Sue Sharpe.
• Sue Sharpe (1994)

  She interviewed girls in 1970s and 1990s to show the shift in how girls see their future.

  • 1974 - low aspirations, education success was 'unfeminine'. Prioritised love, marriage and husbands over jobs and careers.
  • 1990 - likely to see their future as an independent women with a career, rather than being dependent on their husband and his income.
• O'Connor's (2006)

  He studied 14-17 year olds, who found that marriage and children were not a major part of their life plans.
• Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2001)

  They linked O'Connor's study to the trend of individualization in modern society. Where independence is valued much stronger than in the past. A career has become part of a woman's life project as it promises recognition and economic self-sufficiency.
• How do we achieve self-sufficiency?


  Many girls need to recognise that they need a good education.
• For some girls in Carol Fuller's (2011) study, educational success was a central aspect of their identity. They saw themselves as creators of their future, believing in meritocracy and aiming for a professional career.
• Impact of feminism

  Since the 1960s, the feminist movement has challenged the traditional stereotype of a woman's role as solely that of mother and housewife in a patriarchal nuclear family, inferior to men outside the home, in work, education, and the law. Feminism has raised women's expectations and self-esteem.
• Angela McRobbie's (1994)

  A study of girls' magazines in the 1970s, emphasized the importance of getting married and not being 'left on the shelf'. Whereas nowadays, they contain images of assertive, independent women.
• Changes encouraged by feminism may affect girls' self-image and ambitions about family and careers. Possibly explaining improvements in their educational achievement.
• The gender gap in education

  While both sexes have raised their level of achievement, girls have now overtaken boys. Schooling continues to reinforce differences in gender identity between girls and boys.
• Key statistics regarding differences in the achievements of girls and boys in stages of their education:

  • At the end of year one, teacher assessments showed girls ahead of boys between 7 and 17 % points in all 7 areas od learning assessed.
  • Key stages 1 to 3, girls do consistently better than boys. Especially in English where the gender gap steadily widens with age. Maths and science is much narrower, but girls still do better.
• Key statistics regarding differences in the achievements of girls and boys in stages of their education (2)

  • AS and A-level girls are more likely to achieve higher grades. But the gap is much narrower.
  • On vocational courses, a large proportion of girls achieve distinctions in every subject. Including those such as engineering and construction.
  • The girls' rate of improvement has been more rapid and a significant gap has opened, particularly at GCSE.