Topic 4- gender differences in achievement

• What is the impact feminism?

  McRobbie studied girls magazines and found that in the 1970's, they emphasised the importance of getting married. However, nowadays, they contain images of strong, assertive and independent women. Feminists have campaigned for women's rights and changes in the law
• What is the impact of changes in women's employment?

  Changes in the law have improved the position of working women, for example the equal pay act (1970) and the sex discrimination act (1975)
• What is the impact of changing girls ambitions?

  Sharpe interviewed girls and found that their ambitions in the 1970's were to marry and have children, and saw their future in terms of a domestic role. However in the 1990's, the girls priorities had changed to careers and wanting to be independent
• What is the impact of GCSE and coursework?

  Mitos and Brown found that girls do better than boys in coursework because they are more conscientious and organised. Gorad found that the gender gap increased sharply when GCSE's were introduced in 1988
• What is the impact of the equal opportunities policy?

  GIST and WISE programmes to encourage girls into science and technology. National curriculum- girls and boys mostly study the same subjects (e.g. by making science compulsory)
• What is the impact of role models?

  There are more female teachers, which feminises the learning environment and encourages girls to see school as part of a 'female gender domain'
• What is the impact of teacher attention?

  Swann found that boys dominate class discussions, whereas girls are better at listening and cooperating. Teachers respond more positively to girls and give them more encouragement. French and French found that teachers paid boys and girls similar amounts of attention for academic reasons, but boys received more attention overall because they were disciplined more often
• What is the impact of selection and league tables?


  Marketisation policies have led to increased competition between schools. Schools therefore have the incentive to recruit more able students. Girls are generally more successful than boys, so are more attractive to schools
• What is the impact of boys' literacy?

  Parents spend less time reading with sons because it is seen as a 'feminine' activity. Boys leisure interests do not encourage language and communication skills, whereas guilts 'bedroom culture' does
• What is the impact of decline in manual labour?

  Globalisation has led to decline in heavy industries (e.g. shipbuilding, mining and manufacturing) in the UK. This has led to a male 'identity crisis', giving them little motivation to get qualifications for a job
• What is the impact of the feminisation of schooling?

  Boys fall behind because education has been 'feminised', meaning schools no longer nurture masculine traits. The introduction of coursework has disadvantaged boys. Lack of male primary school teachers- only 1 in 6 primary school teachers are male
• What is the impact of laddish subcultures?

  There is peer pressure on boys to demonstrate their masculinity by being 'anti-school'