Gender [Gender Identity; Subject Choices]

• Subject choice- The national curriculum reduced pupils’ freedom to choose or drop subjects by making MOST SUBJECTS COMPULSORY UNTIL 16. Both in the national curriculum and much more so AFTER 16, boys and girls tend to follow different 'GENDER ROUTES’ through the education system an there are some clear differences in subject choices.
• National curriculum options – STABLES and WIKELEY found that where there is a choice in the national curriculum, girls and boys choose differently.
• AS and A levels – for example, boys opt for maths and physics and girls choose subjects such as sociology, English and foreign languages. These are differences mirrored in subject choices at university.
• Vocational courses- gender segregation is a very noticeable feature of vocational training. For example, only one in a 100 construction apprentices is a girl.
• Explanations of gender differences in subject choice- 1-Early socialisation 2-Gendered domains. 3-Gendered subject image 4-Peer pressure 5-Gendered career opportunities
• Verbal abuse – LEES found that boys called girls ‘slags’ if they appeared to be sexually available – and ‘drags’ if they didn’t. PARKER found that boys were labelled ‘gay’ simply for being friendly with girls or female teachers. Their function is simply to reinforce gender norms.
• Male peer groups – EPSTEIN and WILLIS show, boys in anti-school subcultures often accuse boys who want to do well of being gay or effeminate.
• Teachers and discipline – MAC AN GHAILL found that male teachers told boys off for ‘behaving like girls’ and teased them when they gained lower marks in tests than girls. Teachers tended to ignore boys’ verbal abuse of girls and even blamed girls for attracting it
• TEACHERS DISCIPLINE : ASKEW and ROSS show how male teachers’ behaviour can subtly reinforce messages about gender. For example, male teachers often have a protective attitude towards female colleagues, coming into their classes to ‘rescue’ them by threatening pupils who are being disruptive, however this reinforces the idea that women cannot cope alone
• The male gaze – MAC AN GHAILL refers to this as the ‘male gaze’: the way male pupils and teachers look girls up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance. They also see the male gaze as a form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity devalued.
• Double standards – LEES identifies a double standard of sexual exploits, but call a girl a ‘slag’ if she doesn’t have a steady boyfriend or if she dresses and speaks in a certain way. Feminists see double standards as an example of a patriarchal ideology that justifies male power and devalues women.
• EARLY SOCIALISATION- NORMAN notes from an early age, boys and girls are dressed differently, given different toys and encouraged to take part in different activities. Parents tend to reward boys for being active an girls for being passive.
• EARLY SOCIALISATION IMPACT ON SC -BYRNE shows that teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative and not be weak or behave like sissies. Girls on the other hand are expected to be quiet, helpful, clean and tidy, not rough or noisy.
• Gendered domains– BROWNE and ROSS argue that child’s beliefs about ‘gender domains’ are shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults. For example, mending a car is seen as falling within the male gender domain, but looking after a sick child is not
• Gendered subject images – KELLY argues that science is seen as a boys’ subject because, science teachers are more likely to be men, in science lesson, boys monopolise the apparatus and dominate the laboratory, acting as if it is ‘theirs’. A DFES study found pupils who attend single-sex schools tend to hold less stereotyped subject images
• Peer pressure – PEATCHER found that because pupils see sport as mainly within the male gender domain, girls who are ‘sporty’ have to cope with an image that contradicts the conventional female stereotype. This may explain why girls are more likely than boys to opt out of sport.
• Gendered career opportunities – Jobs tend to be sex-typed as ‘men’s’ or ‘women’s’. Women’s jobs often involve work similar to housewives, such as childcare and nursing. This sex-typing of occupations affects boys’ and girls’ ideas about what kinds of job are possible or acceptable. In turn, this affects what subjects and courses they will choose.