Gender

• In a nutshell


  Statistics show girls outperform boys in educational attainment. Sociologists suggest the achievement of girls' educational performance is the result of external factors (girls changing ambitions, changes in the family, changes in women's employment) and internal factors (equal opportunities, teacher attention, coursework). In reverse, they also suggest reasons for boys underachievement: feminisation of schooling, the decline in manual labour, and ‘laddish’ subcultures. They too suggest reasons for the difference in gender subject choices and reflect on gendered identities.
• GIRLS - EXTERNAL FACTORS - IMPACT OF FEMINISM 


  McRobbie studied girls magazines and found that in the 1970s, they emphasised the importance of getting married. However, nowadays, they contain images of strong, assertive and independent women.

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  Feminists have campaigned for women's rights and changes in the law (eg. equal rights)
• GIRLS - EXTERNAL FACTORS - CHANGES IN WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT 

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  Changes in the law have improved the position of working women, for example the Equal Pay Act (1970) and the Sex Discrimination Act (1975).
• GIRLS - EXTERNAL FACTORS - CHANGING GIRLS AMBITIONS 


  Sharpe interviewed girls and found that their ambitions in the 1970s were to marry and have children, and saw their future in terms of a domestic role. However, in the 1990s, the girls priorities had changed to careers and wanting to be independent.
• Girls - internal factors - GCSE AND COURSEWORK 

  Mitos and Brown found that girls do better than boys in coursework because they are more conscientious and better organised.

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  Gorad found that the gender gap in achievement increased sharply when GCSE was introduced in 1988.
• Girls - internal factors -  EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICY 


  GIST and WISE programmes to encourage girls into science and technology.

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  National curriculum - girls and boys largely study the same subjects (eg. by making science compulsory).
• Girls - internal factors - 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’.

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• Girls - internal factors - 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.
• Girls - internal factors - 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.
• Boys - external factors - BOYS LITERACY


  Parents spend less time reading to sons because it is seen as a 'feminine' activity.

  Boys leisure interests do not encourage language and communication skills, whereas gitls ‘bedroom culture’ does.
• Boys - external factors - DECLINE IN MANUAL LABOUR 


  Globalisation had led to the decline in heavy industries (eg. 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.
• Boys - internal factors - FEMINISATION OF SCHOOLING


  Boys fall behind because education has been ‘feminised’, meaning schools no longer nurture masculine traits.

  The introduction of coursework has disadvantages boys.

  Lack of male primary school teachers - only 1 in 6 primary school teachers are male.
• Boys - internal factors - LADDISH SUBCULTURES


  There is peer-pressure on boys to demonstrate their masculinity by being ‘anti-school’.