Gender

• Michele Cohen

  • Found that girls had outperformed boys in the early years of schooling since mass education was introduced.
  • However, girls didn't have the same opportunities to progress and therefore their aspirations have been held back and they didn't have the incentive that boys had to do well.
• Before 1877 no British universities accepted female students
• The impact of feminism

  • The feminist movement has:
  • Raised women's expectations
  • Challenged traditional roles
  • Put pressure on governments to make changes to the law
• McRobbie

  • Examined media messages from girls magazines in the 1970s.
  • Found that magazines emphasises the importance of getting married and not being 'left on the shelf'.
  • Argued that new magazines shows women to be independent and provided more positive role models for girls.
• Changes in the family 


  There have been major changes in the family since the 1970s including:

  • Increase divorce
  • Increase in lone parents
  • Increase in cohabitation
• Beck

  • Changes to family structure led to greater risk and uncertainty.
  • This led to insecurity for men and women.
  • Beck says this create a more individualised society in which men and women have to be self-reliant and financially independent.
  • This gives incentives to girls as they don't want to risk being financially dependant on a husband who statistically they might part from.
• Socialisation

  • Families has had a huge impact on socialisation of children, especially in the context of gender roles which can affect educational achievement.
  • Gender socialisation is learning the behaviour expected of males and females in society
• Socialisation of girls

  • Expressive role, supporting the emotional needs of the family.
  • 'Bedroom culture' practising literacy skills.
  • Reading is feminised, mothers regularly read to daughters.
  • Likely to be ideal pupil due to politeness which leads to higher expectations and being more motivated in school.
  • Girls are seeing mothers working more than ever before which is changing their ideas about the future.
• Socialisation of boys

  • Instrumental role, providing income and discipling children.
• R.Kirby

  • Boys communicative play has been replaced with TV and video games which does little for their development of language skills.
  • There has also been a decline in family discussion at mealtimes which has resulted in less opportunities for boys to catch up in language development skills.
  • Boys haven't been encouraged to sit still and read as it is acceptable behaviour for boys to be doing something all the time.
  • Boys have poor writing skills.
• Burns and Bracey - socialisation

  • Girls put more effort into homework.
  • Girls are better organised.
  • Girls are willing to draft and redraft assignments.
  • Girls tend to read more than boys which helps them succeed in subjects requiring the use of language skills.
• Hannan - socialisation

  • Girls spend leisure time differently to boys.
  • This puts girls at an advantage.
  • Most subjects require good levels of comprehension and writing skills.
• Myhill

  • Boys behaviour being accepted had working in their favour as in the classroom it is more male dominated.
• Edward and Davies

  • Boys are more willing to break rules and create a male dominated classroom
• Changes in women's employment

  • Equal pay act
  • Sex discrimination act
  • Although the proportion of women employment has risen, most women are still seen as primary care giver and take on the responsibility of the household.
• Helen Wilkinson - Genderquake

  • The post industrialisation of the past 30 years has transformed attitudes for work for young women.
  • Jobs have been expanded to the service sector for women, offering more choices.
  • This allows for more women to be financially independent so their aspirations are no longer limited.
• Mitsos and Browne

  • The growing service sector has created more feminised career opportunities for women.
  • This includes childcare professions, health care and teaching.
  • The women's movement and feminism have raised expectations and self-esteem in women so that they aspire to professional jobs.
• Sue Sharpe

  • Carried out interviews with young working class girls in the 1970s and repeated the study in the 1990s.
  • She found that girls have changed the way they see their future.
  • 1970s: love, marriage, husbands.
  • 1990s: job, career, supporting themselves
• Educational policies

  • Due to the feminist movement many have argued that the education system has become more 'gender aware'.
  • Policies like GIST (girls into science and technology) and WISE (women into science and engineering) have become much more mainstream.
  • Gender stereotyping is becoming much less of a problem.
• Jo Boaler

  • Sees the impact of GIST and WISE as an influence on girls subject choice and achievement.
  • Gender stereotyping is becoming less of a problem.
  • The equal opportunity policies have decreased the gender gap.
  • Subject choices are no longer limited by a patriarchal society.
  • School has become more meritocratic so that girls, who generally work harder than boys, achieve more.
• Colley

  • Questions the effectiveness of GIST and WISE.
  • Factors influencing subject choices are external to the education system.
  • This includes family and friends oversubscribing gender stereotypes.
  • Girls tend to choose more humanity subjects, which concerns what they study at uni, leading girls to be assigned to lower paid jobs.
  • Traditional cultural beliefs are still held by teachers, lectures and career advisors and can be passed on through teaching style.
  • Girls are more drawn to subjects taught by women and boys are drawn to subjects taught by men.
• In single sex schools, girls are 2x more likely to study maths at university because the cultural pressures are likely to compensate for the positive female rolemodels
• Browne and Ross

  • Children's beliefs about gender domain are shaped at an early age through experiences.
  • Boys feel more comfortable solving a maths problem in their own domain ie. about cars.
• Positive role models in school

  • In 1992 only 22% of headship were women, by 2012 it went up to 37%.
  • In 1992 49% of teaching staff were women, by 2012 it went up to 61%
  • These women can act as role models for girls, showing that women can achieve positions of importance and gives them traditional goals to aim for.
• Pirie

  • Pre 1988 exams were geared towards boys with its 'high risk swot it all up for the final throw' approach.
  • However, a shift towards coursework has benefitted girls because coursework requires organisational skills and the skill to sustain motivation.
  • Boys tend to cram for exams effectively but are poor at coursework ie. meeting deadlines and don't spend time on the way work is presented.
• Janette Elwood

  • It is unlikely to be the only factor in the rise of the gender gap as exams have much more of an influence on final grades than coursework.
• Stephen Goddard

  • The gender gap in achievement is a 'product of the changed system of assessment rather than any more general failing of boys'
• J Swann

  • Found differences in communication styles.
  • Boys preferred whole class discussions and would dominate them by interrupting.
  • Whereas girls preferred paired work because they could listen and cooperate.
  • Teachers respond more positively to girls and negatively to boys.
  • Boys fell more picked on and through etchers had lower expectations of them creating a self fulfilling prophecy.
  • While successful interactions motivated girls to do well creating a positive self fulfilling prophecy.
• Myhill

  • Although girls may be doing well in exams, they may not be getting the best of their education.
  • Boys get the best of their education because they interact more.
  • The girls greater conformity in school may be a positive attribute to school but a barrier in the work place.
• Jane and Peter French

  • Boys receive more attention because they attract more 'telling offs'
• Selection and league tables

  • The introduction of exman league tables has improved opportunities for girls since high achieving girls are attractive to schools.
  • This can create a self fulfilling prophecy for girls an motivate them to do well.
  • Boys are less attractive to choose since they are likely to suffer behaviour issues.
  • Boys are 4x more likely to be excluded from school.
• Coffey and Delamont

  • Argue that schools have always been patriarchal.
  • Despite there being more female than male teachers, by 204 most senior staff in schools and college were will male,
  • In 2012 61% of teachers in secondary school were female but only 37% achieved headship.
  • Education remained fundamentally heterosexual male. It was hierarchal, competitive, the ethos was masculine. It was authoritarian and sexist.
  • The areas of teaching where women have achieved more leadership success is primary schools as they are viewed as having a feminine domain as women are caring for younger children
• Askew and Ross

  • Male teaching behaviour can subtly reinforce messages about gender.
  • Male teachers often have protective attitudes about female colleagues.
  • They come into the classroom to rescue them from threatening behaviour which reinforces the idea of powerful hegemonic masculinity and the idea that women can't cope.
• Michelle Stanworth

  • Found that education gave the following messages to women:
  • Men are more important than women.
  • Boys career are more important that girls careers.
  • Boys are cleverer than girls.
  • These reinforces the message that men should be dominant.
• Louise Archer - 3 main strategies

  • Working class girls gain symbolic capital from their peers.
  • Creating a hyper sexual feminine identity - to have education success you need to loose being pretty or invest in branded clothing to construct an identity.
  • Having a boyfriend - lowers girls aspirations, lost interest in prestigious subjects, or drop out due to pregnancy.
  • Being loud - girls cope by identifying themselves as 'good underneath' despite what a teacher has labelled them.
  • This reflects girls struggle to achieve self worth in an education system which doesn't value their identity
• Mac and Ghaill

  • Suggest that working class boys are experiencing a 'crisis of masculinity'.
  • There has been a significant decline in heavy industries such as iron and steel which are the sectors of economy which largely employ men.
  • Many of these manufacturing industries have relocated to developing countries for the advantage of cheap labour which has left working class boys belief g they have no chance of getting a job.
  • New jobs in the service service sector are mainly part time, desk based and suited to the skills and lifestyles of women.
• Tony Sewell

  • Claims that boys fall behind because education had become 'feminised'.
  • Says coursework is a major issue and should be replaced with final exams.
  • Calls for greater 'outdoor adventure' in the curriculum.
• Yougov

  • Found that 39% of 8-11 year olds have no lessons whatsoever with a male teacher.
  • Only 14% of primary school teachers are male.
  • Most boys surveyed that the presence of a male teacher made them behave and work harder (lack of positive role models int he home means boys crave male teacher attention)
  • Suggestions have been made that primary school has become feminised by female teachers that are unable to control the behaviour of attention seeking boys.
• Barbara Read

  • Critical of the claims that boys need male teachers.
  • Studied the language used to express concern to a Childs behaviour.
  • Found that most teachers used a masculine approach, expressing authority visibly by shouting, rather than a feminine approach of seeking to the child as if they were an adult and expecting them to act sensibly.
• C Jackson

  • Study masculinity and femininity in schools.
  • Found that academic work is seen as uncool by boys.
  • They were likely to be harassed and labelled as 'sissies'.
  • This is why they tended to mess around to impress peers rather than concentrating on the work.
  • However, some boys wanted to succeed but preferred working at home, so they weren't seen as uncool in school.
  • This disadvantaged working class boys who didn't have the space or support to do this.