External Factors

• Browne (2008) shows us that the achievement of males & females within education has ‘Roller-Coasted’:

  •Up until the 1980s there was major concern about females’ low achievement levels.•During the 1990s, Females began to significantly begin to outperform males (esp. W/C males)•The concern nowadays is that males tend to be underachieving compared to females.•••
• Girls


  • Do better than boys on average in every assessed area on entry to primary school (inc. literacy, maths and social & emotional development)
  • Consistently outperform boys at KS1-3, especially in English
  • In GCSEs the % achieving 5 A*-C stands at 10 % points higher than boys
  • At A-Level the gap is narrower, but girls still do better on average e.g. in 2013 47% of girls gained A or B grades at A Level compared to 42% of boys. This is true even in "boys'" subjects such as maths and physics
  • In vocational studies females are more likely to achieve 'Distinction' passes (even in 'traditional' male subjects such as engineering & construction where they are the minority group)
• Although both sexes have improved – females have/ are doing this more rapidly than males
• The ‘Feminist Movement’ has improved the rights of women as well as raising expectations  & self-esteem/ motivation of women. Women are no longer strictly bound to the ‘Mother/ Housewife Role’.
• Sharpe (1976/1994): Just Like a Girl

  Girls Priorities

  (1976): Love, Marriage, Husbands, Children,  Career.

  (1994): Career, Independence THEN MAYBE relationships etc.
• McRobbie


  Magazines such as Jackie in the 1970s emphasised the importance of getting married whereas nowadays priorities have changed & women are faced with more positive role models within the media
• changes in the family

  Lobban found that, in story books, females tend to be portrayed as dependant, passive, quiet & sensible whereas boys were more adventurous, active, independent & ‘boisterous’.
• EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

  Mitsos & Browne (1998) highlight how the growing Service Sector/ Economy has created more ‘feminised’ career opportunities for women  e.g. in Health Care, Hospitality, Teaching, Clerical, Childcare professions.
• EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

  According to Webb et al (2008):> The number of women in employment went up from 47% in 1959 to 70% 2007.gap between men & women has fallen from 30’% to 17% since 1975.

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• Francis

  Interviewed girls about their career aspirations & concluded that, due to increased employment opportunities, females have become extremely ambitious & aim for ‘high professions’ such as Doctors & Solicitors.
• CHANGING SOCIAL ATTITUDES, PERCEPTIONS & AMBITIOUS

  fem movement and women's rights + changes in the family +employment opportunity + changing social attitudes= increased educational success of females
• Class Gender And Ambition


  •There are class differences in how far girls’ ambitions have changed.•Working class girls are more likely to hold traditional aspirations of marriage and motherhood and expect to go into low-paid jobs.
• Class Gender And Ambition

  Diane Reay (1998) and Biggart (2002) both argues this reflects the reality of the limited job opportunities available to working class girls and the fact that motherhood is a more attainable source of status for them.