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Gender and Educational Attainment - Coggle Diagram
Gender and Educational Attainment
Gender and subject choice
Boys more likely to choose:
maths
physics
economics / business
pe
engineering
politics
links to power
Girls more likely to choose:
english
psychology / sociology
art and design
RS
drama / dance
links to expression and emotions
Browne and Ross:
gender domains
women feel unsafe in mainly male areas and vice versa
male domains = pubs, gyms etc
female domains = childcare, retail, spas
children know these domains and it impacts subject choices
gendered subject images
two fold effect, boys get better results which puts girls off and attracts boys
peer pressure, social suicide
career assumptions by teachers, parents etc, deters people
Diana Leonard:
subject choice less gendered in single-sex schools
girls more likely to choose things like physics
less likely with boys but still happens, boys more likely to choose drama
Murphy and Elwood:
gender socialisation
boys more likely to do physical / mechanical toys
boys more likely to read instruction manuals and factual books
girls more likely to read stories and play with dolls
all of this is decided for them not by them
Boys
Gender socialisation
also applies to boys the same as girls
Deindustrialisation
previously men guaranteed work due to world of work only men, now this is not the case
men see women in work as a challenge/threat to male dominance
Mitsos and Browne
gender identity is constructed
masculinities, the main one is hegemonic masculinity constructed around the idea of men being powerful (power over women, physical power and power through resources), studying is effeminate
getting harder to achieve due to changed jobs / industry, women in work
young men doubt themselves, effecting confidence
crisis of male identity
Critical Evaluation
Michael Ward:
study of young men in South Wales, effected by industrialisation
the 'Boiz'
working class men that struggled to prove hegemonic masculinity via jobs so proved it by other things such as rugby, drinking and going vocational courses
1/3 did go to uni, crisis of masculinity exaggerated, can be masculine and still achieve educational attainment
The job market
gender pay gap exists
men still more likely to get top jobs (look at House of Commons)
Jessica Ringrose:
moral panic over males, media generated
male attainment also increased just slightly less than women
not a big problem for men, they can still get jobs
gender not the main issue, wealth and ethnicity is (FSM and BAME most underachievement)
media is focusing on male under attainment and ignoring womens issues such as sexual harrassement
Girls
7-10% gap between boys and girls, girls outperforming in last 30 years.
Girls do better in everything but maths, physics and economics.
Girls were doing better in maths until they removed maths coursework.
Gender socialisation
girls discouraged to be physical tasks (unlike boys) and to be non agressive
encouraged to do quite focus tasks from a young age
girls chat to each other in playground, good for communication & listening skills (unlike boys that spend time 'fighting')
However, gender socialisation has always been this way, but female achievement only in last 30 years
Changes in women's employment
1970 Equal Pay Act, illegal to pay women less for equal work
1975 Discrimination Act, outlaws discrimination at work
since 1975, pay gap between men and women 30%-> 15%
women in employment from 53% in 1971 -> 67% in 2013, caused by growth in service sector and flexible part-time work
some women breaking through 'glass ceiling'
girls now see future in work rather than housewives
incentives for women e.g. greater pay, career ops and role models
Changes in the family
since 1970, increase in lone parent families so more women being breadwinners and role models, increase in divorce mean less relying on men
girls see themselves differently now
less stigma around idependancy of women
1969 Divorce Reform Act
fertility rate dropped (greater women's control)
The impact of feminism
raised expectations of women, challenged stereotypes of women and housework and inferiority
female emancipation, greater self-esteem
Angela McRobbie's (1994) study of magazines, in 1970 they emphasised marriage and now they show strong, assertive, independent women
Girl's changing ambitions
in 1970s womens saw educational attainment as unfeminine and unattractive
by 1990s, girls ambition changed, see a future in being an independent woman
Sue Sharpe 'Just like a girl', girls ambitions in 1970 were all around family life, 1990s there was more ambitions around careers, jobs and work
Ulrich Beck
individualisation, what happens in life is up to you
late modernity has caused uncertainty
more pressure on girls to get a profession rather than marriaging a man
Critical evaluation
socialisation argument, always the same
the job market, there is still the gender pay gap even with laws, women less well paid and maternity vs paternity leave
social class, working class girls face different challenges than middle class
Andy Biggart, working class girls less likely to go into jobs and education, more likely to get married, predictable unlike precarious job market
External factors
Internal factors
Girls
Government policy
girls overtook boys in late 1980/90s, around the time of government policy
initiatives to promote female ambition (GIST and WISE)
gender stereotypes in curriculum attempted to be reduced
gender awareness training
Mitsos and Browne
girls advantaged by GCSE coursework (more likely to sit down and do it, gender socialisation)
1988 was when GCSEs introduced, coursework unlike before
Marketisation
higher achieving schools cream skim to get females into their schools as they are higher achieving
boys more likely to be 'hopeless cases', girls more likely to be to bands
Critical Evaluation
Mairtin Mac an Ghaill:
male gaze
even in school women have to feel pressure to be a certain way
intimidation of girls
Carolyn Jackson:
Lads and Ladettes (laddishness effects all genders and classes)
a result of fear of failure and pressures caused by marketisation focusing on competitiveness and individualisation
self worth preservation
many students join anti-school subcultures & laddishness to protect themselves
win-win strategy, if you fail exams you win as you didn't care, if you succeed you win as you didn't try
Pupil identities
Louise Archer:
working class girls lack symbolic capitals
hyper-heterosexual feminine identity
they do this to attract boys due to not wanting to go to uni or get a job
Jessica Ringrose:
peer pressure and tension between the idealised feminine identity (girl that's a good friend, popular with girls) and sexualised identity (popular with boys)
if too sexualised then risk loosing idealised feminine identity
Diane Ray:
girls have to avoid 'boffin identity' (geek)
Dawn Currie:
girls policed by peers
fear of 'slut-shaming' and 'frigid-shaming'
pressures girls face that boys dont have to
Boys
The crisis of male identity
feminisation of education (education seen as female)
boys try to cancel this feminisation by avoiding "feminine" education
boys dont study as this is effeminate, do stuff like play rugby instead
lack of male role models
male pupils try to accomplish hegemonic masculinity
Debbie Epstein or Becky Francis:
laddish subcultures
alternative norms and values of anti-school
want to achieve hegemonic masculinity
rejection of anything effeminate
caused by feminisation of education and peer pressure (friendship groups and popularity)
detrimental to boys educational attainment
Critical evaluation
Barbara Read:
argues more male teachers are not the solution
there are teachers that use disciplinarian discourse and teachers using liberal discourse
disciplinarian discourse is associated with male teachers / masculine and liberal with female teachers / feminine
but most female teachers use disciplinarian discourse
so wouldn't make a difference if more males came in
Pupil identities
working class boys adapt a 'Nike Identiies'
hegemonic masculinity, laddish subcultures and crisis of male identity