Feminist Role of education

• According to radical feminists the role of education is to reinforce patriarchy
• Liberal feminists celebrate the progress made so far in improving girls achievement
• Liberal Feminist 


  They believe that the “future is female” and now girls are out performing boys in education
• Liberal feminist 


  It is only a matter of time until women move into politics and higher paid managerial roles at work
• Radical feminists argue that patriarchy still works through school to reinforce traditional gender norms and to disadvantage girls
• Some radical feminist sociologists see concern over boys relative underachievement as ‘ moral panic ‘
• Boys have still been improving their achievement in the last thirty years - just not as fast as girls
• The focus on education at the moment is on ‘ raising boys achievements‘. This reflects a male dominated system panicking at the fact that the old patriarchal power relations are starting to break down
• Despite improvements in girls education - gendered subject choices still remain heavily gendered and girls do not seem to be “ breaking through the glass ceiling “.
• Traditional gender norms are reinforced in schools to disadvantage the girls
• Recents studies show that despite girls doing well at school - girls are increasingly subject to sexist bullying, something that is becoming worse with the “normalisation of pornography“