gender and achievement

• causes of gender differences

  • the impact of feminism
  • changes in family
  • changes in women's employment
  • girls' changing ambitions
• the impact of feminism

  the Genderquake - females have markedly improved their educational performance during the 1980s and 1990s

  Wilkinson (1994) - argues that this is part of the genderquake in which fundamental changes in attitudes towards female roles in society have been achieved

  liberal feminism - main branch of feminism defined b its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform
• Angela McRobbie (1982)


  studied specifically girls' magazines

  magazines encouraged girls to see romance and marriage as primary goals and to value themselves only in terms of how they are valued by boys
• McRobbie (1999)


  by the 90s magazines had changed

  showed female assertiveness, being in control and enjoying sex

  being more self aware, confident, ambitious and independent was more prevalent in the media
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - changes to employment evidence

  • The 1970 Equal Pay Act makes it illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value
  • 1975 Discrimination at Work Act makes it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their sex or gender in the workplace
  • since 1975, the pay gap between men and women has halved from 30% to 15%
  • the proportion of women in the workforce has risen from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013
  • but April 2019, the gender pay gap for full-time workers rose to 8.9% - up from 8.6% the previous year
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - changes to employment impact

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

  these changes have encouraged girls to see their future in terms of paid work rather than housewife and mother, greater career opportunities and better pay for women provide an incentive for girls to gain qualifications
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - changes in the family evidence

  major changes in the way family life has operated since the 1970's:

  • an increase in divorce rate
  • an increase in cohabitation and a decrease in the number of first marriages
  • an increase in the number of lone parent families
  • smaller families
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - changes in the family impact

  more women are single parents today so they have the traditionally male 'breadwinner' role, means they need to be financially independent women, which means getting well paid jobs, requiring educational success

  divorce rates are emphasising the importance of financial independence to women
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - changing ambitions evidence

  Sue Sharpe's in 1990's girls had different priorities than the 1970's, 1974 girls had low aspirations, believed educational success was unfeminine and unattractive

  O'Connor (2006) 14-17 year olds didn't see marriage and children as a major part of their plans

  Carol Fuller (2011) girls educational success was a central aspect of their identity, had an individualised notion of self, believed in meritocracy and aimed for professional careers
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - changing ambitions impact

  girls in the 1990's and beyond saw careers as a way of supporting themselves and they saw a future as an independent women with a career rather than as dependent on their husband as his income - put more emphasis on educational success than ever before
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - deindustrialisation evidence

  since the 1980s, a decline in traditional heavy industries due to globalisation and industry developing in other parts of the world

  new jobs in the service sector suit women more, boys may lack motivation and ambition because they feel they have limited prospects
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - deindustrialisation impact

  Jackson 2006, working class boys particularly affected by change in the labour market

  lacking the prospect of employment to give them a sense of identity, they used laddish behaviour to restore a sense of masculine pride (crisis of masculinity), meant they did less well in school
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - different leisure evidence

  achievement of boys and girls is dependent on how they spend their leisure time, boys will generally be playing sports, video games wile girls are more likely to read and stand around talking
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - different leisure impact

  by girls talking it tends to improve the linguistic and reasoning skills needed at school and in non-manual service sector jobs

  most school subjects require good levels of comprehension, reading and writing skills - boys will see this as 'girly' and 'uncool'
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - boys don't like reading evidence

  boys generally see reading as a feminine activity - boring, not real work, waste of time, should be avoided

  reading is feminised, women are the ones more likely to read, talk about books and read to their children (most likely to daughters) - boys tend to stop being interested in reading at about 8 years old
• external factors causing gender differences in educational achievement - boys don't like reading impact

  girls mainly read fiction while boys read for information - fiction tends to be the main means of learning to read in primary school years, puts girls at an early advantage in education

  Oakhill and Petrides (2007) - boys' interest in the content they read influences their ability to understand a text, girls are better than boys at handling and understanding reading in their subjects that doesn't have much personal interest in them
• Francis (2005)

  gender is a key part of our social identity and fitting in at school can often mean adapting behaviour which conforms to gender stereotypes

  if not done there's a risk of peer group marginalisation and bullying
• Skeleton et al (2007)

  boys and girls act out their gender identities as opposites

  what is appropriate boy/girl behaviour will vary at each stage of education
• feminisation of education


  not enough male teachers working in primary schools - curriculum, teaching styles and means of assessment are more appropriate to the learning styles of girls

  1. no value on male activities (competition, toughness, physical strength)
  2. teaching and learning - focus is on collaborative tasks and strategies that fit with girls primary socialisation
  3. coursework rather than high risk exams that favour girls being hardworking and conscientious
  4. female teachers support girls more - boys reject school seek status of peers, gangs to gain masculinity, lack of self work + purpose
• teachers and discipline

  teachers reinforce dominant gender identities

  Haywood and Mac and Ghaill (1996) found that male teachers told boys off for behaving like girls and teased them when they gained lower marks than girls
• historical underachievement

  exams suit girls more - 3.9% of boys attain 9s in GCSEs compared to 5.4% of girls

  policies are no longer needed

  ignores disadvantaged working class and ethnicity

  coursework still exists in A-Levels (girls do better in coursework)
• anti-school subculture

  Archer - Nike identities

  overlook of boys
• labelling

  fewer role models for boys

  major push to encourage girls to take STEM subjects - boys are discourages, 50.3% entries of girls, 49.7% entries of boys
• moral panic about boys

  too much focus on boys

  moral panic - fear underachievement of working class boys - unemployable underclass - lack of social stability - focus on raising boys achievement and neglect of other failing groups

  feminist, Jackson, educational policy has ignored girls, girls become marginalised as boys' face more attention, boys dominate school space and time

  no space to tackle the problems that girls have in education; teenage pregnancy, sexualisation and bullying in friendship groups
• moral panic

  critics of feminism argue that policies to help girls are no longer needed

  Ringrose has argued that this has lead to a moral panic about failing boys, fear there will be an underclass of failing boys, threat to stability of society

  this approach - ignores disadvantaged working class and ethnicity, ignores issues girls face, Osler notes this has led to a neglect of girls, girls disengage quietly, hidden problem of self exclusion (truancy) and internal exclusion (removal from class) amongst girls
• problems for girls today

  radical feminists emphasis the system is still patriarchal

  sexual harassment of girls continues

  subject choices for girls are limited due to perceptions

  still more male head teachers at secondary level

  subjects like history focus more on male contributions

  working class girls still underperform
• GIST

  girls in science
• WISE

  women in STEM
• Tony Sewell feminisation of education


  teachers don't nurture male traits such as competitiveness and leadership - boys become alienated by the feminised classroom, they turn to gang violence to vent their anger

  lessons and exams emphasis on coursework favouring girls - boys find it difficult to cope where things are uncertain, specifically around competition
• Tony Sewell feminisation of education evaluation

  schools have put an immense effort into raising boys achievement in recent years

  disciplinarian/masculine discourse - teachers authority is made explicit through shouting and sarcasm