Subject choice/gender identities

• Early socialisation

  • Murphy and Elwood argue that difference in gender socialisation leads to boys and girls having different tastes in reading and leads to differences in subject choice
  • Boys - hobby books which develop interests in sciences
  • Girls - story books which develop interests in english
  • Norman - boys and girls dress differently and given different toys
  • Byrne - teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative whereas girls are expected to be quiet and helpful
  • Murphy - boys and girls interpret tasks differently - cars and ships drawing study
• Gender domains

  • Browne and Ross - children see some tasks as male or female territory and are more confident in tasks that are their domain
  • In a maths task, boys are more confident tackling a problem relating to cars whereas girls prefer health and nutrition
  • Could explain why girls are attracted to arts and humanities subjects and boys prefer sciences
  • 2017 - 90% computing students were boys and 79% of physics students were boys
  • 76% of english students were girls and 77% of sociology students were girls
• Gendered subject images

  • Alison Kelly states that science is seen as masculine as they are packaged to make them appear to be 'boy' subjects
  • There are more male science teachers and examples in textbooks are linked to male experiences eg. football and cars
  • Boys dominate the classroom and grab apparatus first
  • Colley argues that ICT/computer based subjects are also apart of the male domain due to the machine aspect which appeals to boys
• Evaluation of gendered subject images

  • 2007 DfES found that gendered subject image was not a problem in same-sex schools and varied amongst pupils - less stereotyped subject images
  • Supported by Leonard who found girls in girls schools were more likely to take maths and science A-levels compared to mixed schools. This trend continues to university
• Peer pressure

  • Boys tend to opt out of dance and music because others will perceive these subjects to be outside of the male gender domain and apply negative pressure
  • Paetcher - girls who choose sport are often stigmatised as it contradicts the female stereotype and falls within the male gender domain
  • Dewar - US study found girls would be labelled as 'lesbian' or 'butch' if they got involved in sports
  • Peer pressure is why girls avoid physics
• Gendered career opportunities

  • Subject choice may also be influenced by gendered employment patterns
  • Female work is centred around - clerical, secretarial, personal services and cleaning work. Men only make up 1/6 of workers in these areas
  • HOWEVER - Fuller studied working class girls and found they had ambitions to go into jobs such as childcare and hair and beauty. Thus, social class may affect girls subject choice