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Gender Differences in Achievement- External - Coggle Diagram
Gender Differences in Achievement- External
Gender Gap in achievement
On starting school:
In 2013 teacher assessments of pupils at the end of year 1 showed girls ahead of boys by 7-17 percentage points in all 7 areas of learning assessed.
DfE 2013: in state primary schools, boys were 2.5x more likely than girls to have statements of special educational needs
KS1-KS3:
girls do consistently better than boys, especially in English. Also better in maths and science but gap is much narrower.
GCSE
:
Gender gap stands at around 10 percentage points. More girls than boys have achieved 5 or more A*-C grades since 1986
AS and A-level:
Girls more likely to sit, pass and get higher grades, but gap is narrower than at GCSE.
2013: 46.8% girls got A/B grades vs 42.2% boys
Vocational Courses:
more girls achieve distinctions in every subject, including those such as engineering/ construction where girls are a tiny minority
Impact of Feminism
Whilst we have not yet achieved full equality between the sexes, feminism has considerably improved women's rights and opportunities through changes in the law. It has always raised women's expectations and self-esteem.
Since 1960s feminism has challenged traditional stereotypes that a woman's role is only as mother/ housewife in a patriarchal nuclear family or that women are inferior to men.
Angela McRobbie (1994)
Studied girls' magazines, found that in the 1970s they emphasised importance of marriage and not being "left on the shelf" whereas now they contain images of assertive, independent women.
Thus, changes encouraged by feminism affect girls' self-image and ambitions regarding family and careers, explaining improvements in educational achievement.
Wilkinson (1994):
There has been a "Genderquake" in which fundamental changes in attitudes towards female role in society has been achieved. This has allowed for greater educational opportunities for women.
Changes in the Family
More female-headed lone-parent families mean more women need to take on breadwinner role, creating a new adult role model for girls- the financially independent woman. Achieving this independence requires well-paid jobs, thus good qualifications.
Increasing divorce rate suggests to girls it is unwise to rely on a husband to be their provider. Financial independence becomes more important, thus focus on education to make a living.
Some major changes in the family since the 1970s which can affect girls' attitudes towards education:
increasing divorce rate
increase in cohabitation and decrease in first marriages
increase in lone-parent families
smaller families (less children)
Changes in Women's Employment
1970 Equal Pay Act
: made it illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value
1975 Sex Discrimination Act:
outlawed sex discrimination at work
Since 1975 pay gap has halved from 30% to 15%
Proportion of women in employment has risen from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013, encouraged by the fact that they will be paid equally for their work. Growth in service sector and flexible part-time work has offered opportunities for women.
Some women now breaking through the glass ceiling- invisible barrier keeping them out of high-paid professional and managerial jobs e.g. CEOs and PMs
Such changes encourage girls to see their future in terms of paid work rather than as housewives. Greater career opportunities, better pay and role models that successful career women offer= incentive for girls to gain qualifications.
Changing Women's Ambitions
Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2001)
Link these changing ambitions to the trend towards individualisation in modern society, where independence is valued much more strongly than in the past. A career has become part of a woman's life project because it promises recognition and economic self-sufficiency
O'connor (2006)
Studied 14-17 year olds and found that marriage and children were not a major part of their life plans.
Sue Sharpe (1994)
Interviewed girls in the 1970s and 1990s, highlighting a major shift in girls' ambitions for the future.
1974: girls had low aspirations, believed educational success was unfeminine, appearing ambitious was considered unattractive. Priorities were "love, marriage, husbands, children, jobs and careers, more or less in that order"
By 1990s: girls had a different order of priority- careers and being able to support themselves. Girls now more likely to see their future as an independent woman with a career rather than as dependent on their husband and his income.
Carol Fuller (2011)
For some girls in her study, educational success was a central aspect of their identity- saw themselves as creators of their own future and had an individualised notion of self.
They believed in meritocracy and aimed for a professional career that would enable them to support themselves. These aspirations require qualifications, whereas those of the 1970s girls didn't.
Class, gender and ambition
Diane Reay (1998)
This reflects the reality of the girls' class position. Their limited aspirations reflect the limited job opportunities they saw as available to them. By contrast a traditional gender identity (especially being part of a couple) is both obtainable and offers them a source of status.
Biggart (2002)
w/c girls are more likely to face a precarious position in the labour market= see motherhood as the only viable option for their futures. Thus they see less point in achieving in education.
Support: Most low-aspiring w/c girls in Fullers study were not interested in staying on at school and expressed a desire for low-level jobs.
There are class differences in how far girls' ambitions have changed. Some w/c girls continue to have gender-stereotyped aspirations for marriage and children, expecting to go into traditional low-paid women's work.