Gender Differences in Achievement

Positive Role Models

- Increase in female teachers & heads

-To become a teacher must undertake lengthy & successful education

- Women - senior positions - Shows women can achieve positions of importance

GCSE & Coursework

- Gorard - Gender gap in achievement - fairly constant from 1975-1989

- Mitos & Browne Girls = more successful

- Girls = more conscientious & organised, qualities become an advantage in todays education system. 

Equal opportunities Policies

Feminist ideas = major impact on education 

• Teachers - more sensitive to need to avoid stereoyping 
• Boys & girls = entitled to same opportunities & influences educational policies 

Gist & Wise 

• Encouraging girls to persue career in science 
• Interests have been developed
• Schooling = more meritocratic 
• Girls who work harder than boys achieve more 

Teacher attention

Francis (2001)- boys get more attention & are disciplined harshly & feel picked on by teachers 

French (1993) - Boys receive more attention & more reprimands 

Swann (1998) - Gender differences in communication 

• Boys dominate 
• Girls prefer paired work & take turns to talk & cooperate 
• Teachers respond positively to girls 
• Leads to self-fulfilling prophecy 
• Promotes self esteem & raises achievement 

Selection & League Tables 

Marketisation policies - more competitive climate as schools see girls as more desirable recruits

• Achieve better results

Jackson (1998)

• League tables - opportunities for girls
• High achieving girls are attractive to schools
• Low achieving boys are not
• Creates a self-fulfilling prophecy

Slee (1998)

• Less attractive to schools
• Behavioural difficulties & 4x more likely to be excluded
• Image deters high achieving girls from applying
• Boys - liablity to school improving league tables  

Impact of Feminism 

• Social movement that strives for equality for women in all areas of life 
• Feminist movement = success in improving womens rights & opportunites through changes in law etc

McRobbie 

• Study of magazines 
• 1970s - emphasised importance of getting married 
• Now women are being more assertive 
• Raised self esteem & expectations 
• Affect girls self image & ambitions with regard to family 
• Explains improvement in their educational achievement 

Change in Family 

Major changes since 1970s

• Increase in divorce 
• Increase in cohabitation & decrease in first marriages 
• Smaller families 
• Increase in lone parent families 

Changes are affecting girls attitudes towards education 

• Increase in female headed lone parent families - role model 
• Well paid job = need good qualifications 
• Encourages girls to look to themselves & own qualifications to make a living 

Changes in Women's Employement 

Changes encouraged girls to see their future in terms of paid work rather than a house wife 

• Role models & successful career women provide incentives for girls to gain qualifications 

1970 Equal Pay Act 

• Illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value 

Proportion of women in employement has risen from 53% in 1971 to 67% 2013 

Growth & flexible part-time work has offered opportunities for women

Literary

The gender gap is mainly the result of poorer literacy & language skills 

• Parents may spend less time reading to their sons 
• Leisure pursuits e.g. Football do little to develop their language & communication skills 
• Poorer language & literacy affects them across all subjects 

Globalisation on Boy's achievement 

Globalisation of Economy 

• Led to much of the manufacturing industry relocating to developing countries e.g. China 

Mitos & Browne 

Indentity crisis for Men 

• Believe they have little prospect for getting proper job 
• Undermines their motivation & self esteem & give up trying to get qualifications 
• However decline in these jobs may not have much of an impact on boys achievement

Feminisation of the Education system - Sewell

• Boys fall behind because education is feminised
• Schools do not nurture masculine traits (competitiveness & leadership)
• Celebrate qualities more closely associated with girls
• Suggests more emphasis on final exams & outdoor adventure in curriculum
• Coursework - major cause of gender differences in achievement

Shortage of Male teachers

• Lack of male role models both at home & school = cause of boys underachievement
• 14% primary school teachers are male

Youvell

• Most boys surveyed - presence of male teachers made them feel better
• 42% makes them work harder 
• Culture of primary school has become feminised - unable to control boys behaviour
• Male teachers - more able to impose strict discipline on boys that they need to concentrate 

Laddish Subcultures

Epstein - Examined way masculinity is constructed within school  

• WC boys are more likely to be harassed, labelled as sissies & subject to homophobic verbal abuse

Francis - Laddish subculture is becoming more widespread

• Girls are moving to masculine areas e.g. careers
• Boys respond by becoming increasingly laddish to construct themselves as feminine
• Boys were more concerned about being labelled than girls
• Label is more of a threat to their masculinity
• WC culture masculinity - equated with being tough
• Manual work, school work = effeminite & inferior
• WC tend to reject school work

Gender Role Socialisation

Process of learning the behaviour expected of males & females in society

Gender domains

• Browne & Ross
• Tasks & activities  boys and girls see as male / female territory
• Children are more confident when engaging tasks that are part of their domain
• Murphy (1991)
• Same task - pay attention to different details

Norman

Boys & girls dressed differently from an early age & had different toys

Byrne

Teachers encourage boys to be tough & show initiative,Girls are expected to be quiet, helpful etc.

Gendered Subject Images

Kelly argues science =boys because teachers are male & textbools - interests boys

Boys dominate the lab

Cohley (1998)

Machines = male gender domain

Way it is taught = off putting to women

Single sex schooling

• Less traditional subject choices = less stereotyped subject images

Leonard (2006)

• Girls = more likely to take maths & science A-levels

Girls & boys develop differents tastes in reading

Murphy & Elwood (1998)

• Leads to different subject choices
• Boys = hobby books
• Girls = read stories

GI & PP

Paechter (1998) - Girls = see sport as male gender domain

Dewar (1990) - American college students,Girls = 'butch' or lesbian

Verbal Abuse

Paechter - Helps to shape gender identity & maintain male power

Parker - Boys = labelled as gay for being friendly with girls

- Labels reinforce gender norms & identities

Male Gaze

• Form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced
• Femininity is devalued
• Way boys prove masculinity to friends (sexual conquests)
• Boy who do not display heterosexuality = labelled gay

Teachers & Discipline

Haywood & Mac (1996)

Male teachers = boys punished for behaving like girls

Ignore boys verbal abuse towards girls - blamed girls for attracting attention

Ross & Askew

Male teachers behaviour = can subtly reinforce messages about gender

Double Standards

Sexual morality which boys boast about their own sexual exploits however they will call a girl a ****

Feminists = this is an example of patriarchal ideology it justifiies male power & devalues women

Male peer Groups

• Verbal abuse to reinforce their definitions of masculinity
• Boys in anti-school subcultures = accuse boys who want to do well at school as 'gay'

Mac & Ghaill

• Peer groups reproduce a range of different class based masculine gender identities

Redman & Mac & Ghaill

• Dominant definintion of masculine identity changes from macho lads in lower school to real Englishmen in sixth form

Francis

• Middle class female boffins - respond in kind by defining other WC girls as chavs

Ringrose

• Being popular = crucial to girls identity
• Girls made transition from girls friendship culture into heterosexual dating culture

Idealised Feminine Identity

• Showing loyalty to female peer group - being non-competitive & getting along with everyone

Sexualised Identity

• Involved competing for boys in the dating culture

'Boffin Idenity'

• Girls who want to be successful educationally feel need to conform to schools notion of ideal feminine pupil identity
• Reay - Found it involved girls having to perform an asexual identity, presenting themselves as lacking any interest
• As a result they risk being given identity of 'boffin' & excluded by other girls

Archer

• WCG gain SC from their female peers
• By performing hyper-heterosexual feminine identity
• By constructing a glamorous / **** NIKE appearance
• if girls fail to conform the risk being unpopular

Currie

• Argues that while relationships with boys can confer SC = high risk game
• Girls = forced to perform a balancing act between 2 identities
• Girls who are too competitive & think they are better than their peers face '**** shaming'
• On the other hand girls who don't compete for boyfriends = face 'frigid shaming'
• Shaming acts as a social control device