Gender Differences in Education

external facotors - changes outside the education system.

1. impact of feminism- feminism is a socail movement that strives for equal rights, while we havent achieved equality between sexes, feminism has encouraged changes in the law improving womens rights as well as raising womens expectations and self essteem while removing the sterotype of being mother and housewife.

McRobbie study of girls' magazine 1970 where girls were shown the importance of getting married not 'left on the shelf' where as today they are shown much more independent successful women.

changes in the family such as:

• smaller families
• increase in divores
• increase in cohabitation families 
• increase in number of lone parent families.

Affecting girls attitdues towards education in many ways ie more womenheaded lone parent families show women taking on the role of the breadwinner, showing new adult role model for girls the finacially independent women that they need good income jobs to achieve.

increase in dovirce rates show girls it may be unwise to rely on husband to be their provider encouraging them to make a living to support themselves. 

1970-equal pay act making it illegal to pay women less then men for equal value work.

1978-sex discrimination act out laws gender discrimination at work place.

since 1975 the gender pay gap has halved from 30% to 15% for women

the propotion for women in employment has risen from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013 the growth of service sector and flexiable part-time has offered new oppurtunities for women. 

changes encouraging women to see themselves in paid work rather then housewives, greater carrer oppurtunities and better pay for women and the role models provide incentive for gairls to gain qualifications.

Sue Sharpes 1994 research shows major shift in girls ambitions as an effect from changes in the family and employment. 

interviews with girls in 1974 had low aspirations, educations is unfemmine, being ambitious is unattractive, prorities ar love, marriage, husbands, jobs, carres in that order.by 1990s girls ambitions had changed order of priorites to careers and supporting themselves.wanted to support seleves rather then rely on husbands

• .O'connel's study of 14-17 year olds found that marriage and children was not a priority for thier life plans. 
• Beck and Beck Gernshiem link this to trend in individualisation in modern society where independnce is valued more then in past.womens carrers promise recognition and self-suffciency.

contrast: Reay argues not all girls have changed their ambitions,this relflects class inequalties as their class postion leads them to believe less oppurtunities are avalible to them.

equal oppurtuntiy policies.

Feminist ideas had major impact. 

Policymakers much more aware of gender issues and tecahers are more sensitive and avoid sterotyping. belife boys and girls are equally deseving of education opputinties influences policys.

Policies such as G.I.S.T (girls into science and technology) and W.I.S.E (women into science and engerniring) encourage girls to have carrers in non traditional areas.inspiring femal scientist have visted schools, teachers have been made aware of sterotyping in science, non-sexist carrers advsie given)

Boaler sees impacct of equal opp policies a skey reasons for changes in girls achievement.many barries have came down and schools are more mertiocratic.

Stephan Goard found gender gap in achievement was fairly consistent from 2975 until 1989 when it increased to disadvantage boys. Gcse was introduced bringing course work with it as a major part for majority of subjects.

Mitsos and Browne suport view as they argue girls are more succesful in course work as they ar emore organised, spend time on work, take care with presentation, better at meeting deadlines and have right equpiment at lessons.

Gcse is also argued to benifit girls with oral exams as girls are portrayed to be better delveloped liguistically.However.

Elwood argues that course work doesnt have as muc influence over the final grade as exams do so its unlikelt to be the only cause of the gender gap that disadvantages boys.

teachers interaction between boys and girls differs.

jane and peter french analysed classroom showing boys recieving more attention then girls as they have more reprimands.

Becky Francis showed boys get more attention and are discipline more harshly, they felt picked on by teachers and felt they had low expectations of them.

Swann found gender differences in communication skills. boys dominate whole class discussions and girls prefer paired work and are better at listening and cooperating, girls dont inturput each other which may explain why teahers respond positvely to girls. leads boys to self fulling prophercy. promiting girls self esttem raising their amibtions.

Louise Archer uses concept of 'symbolic capital' to understand conflict between working-class girl's feminime identies and the values of the school.acher found by preforming their W-C identies they gain symbolic capital from their peers but this brought them conflict with the school stopping them from gaining educational capital and economicArcher identifies several satges of 'hyper-heterosexual feminine identity. there need to be glamouras' conflicted with the school leaving them to be labled as incapable of educational success. archer found the schools ideal female pupil is desexualised and middle class.

• Boyfriends: boyfriends are symbolic capital and get in the way of education helps lose intresent in masculin subjects.
• being loud: some WC girls adopt being loud leading them to be outspoken and independent, questioning teachers authority fails to conform to school rules, ideal female pupil is passive and submissive.
• working class dilemma:either gaining symbolic capital or gaining educational capital. to try and cope some develop 'good underneath' selfimagine struggling to achieve sense of self worthwithin education system that devalues their working class feimine identies. archer argues investing in their female indeties is a major part of their lack of success

debbie epstien examined how masculinity is constructed within school. she found wc boys are likely to be harrased and labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse if they appear smart, they are more concerned then girls to being called swots as it affects their masculinity, real boys dont work and if they do they get bullied. 

1. gender rold soocialisation

the process of learning behaviour expected by males and femamles in socoteity.

Norman notes from early on boys and ;s are dressed diff and given diff toys and inecouraged to do diff activities as a result od diff socialisations they develop diff tastes Elwood shows how thus links to different subject choices.

brown +Ross show that childrens early expecatations of adult hood increase their belifes in gender domains and childfren are more confident taking part in what is seen as part f their own gender.

Gender subject image affects those who will wantto choise it. 

Kelly argues science is seen as a boy subject beacsue, science teachers are more men, text books draw on boys. boys monoplise the labs.

single sex scooling have less sterotypes on subjects Leonards found compared to pupils in mixed schools girls schools more likely take maths and science aleves and boys take english and languaugaes.

subject choice influenced by peer presure 

Paechter found sport is in the male domain and girls who are sporty deal with being a steortype that contradicts the female identity. Dewar found girls woulld have to deal with beingn called butch if they did sport. 

peer presure = how pupils see themseleves

absence of peer preausre from other sex explains why single sex schools  girls take more boy subjects

employment is highly generated: jobs tend to be sex typed. 

women are concentrated in narrow range of female occcupations: Clerical, Secretarial, personal services and cleaning. 

helps explain why vocational course are more gender spepcific tahn academic course   as vocational are more linked to specidific carrers.

1. Double standards Sue Lee identifies double standard of sexual moralitybin boys exploiting thier sex life but girls get called a ****.status are given by male peers or teachers and promisuity = negitive lables for girls.

patricarcal ideology thst justifies male power and ddevalues women as a form of social control.

calls heagomonic masculitnity the domanice of hetrosexual masculine identity and the suboardination of female and gay identies

connal says is a rich vocab of abuse is one of wways dominant gender and sexual identity sre reenforced ie boys put girls down if they dont dress a certain way. 

Andrew parker found boys labbeled gaya fpr being friendsly wiht girls or female teachers

Mac and Ghaill refer to this as the way pupils and teachers look girls up annd down seeing them as sexual objects judeged on apperance. 

form of suvalinace dominating hetrosexual masculinity devaluating feminimity

boys who dont talk about thier sexual feelings are gay

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