Gender and subject choice
Gender socialisation
Norman
Byrne
Lobban
Oakley
Gender stereotyping in children's books
Women have domestic roles, encouraging gender choices, pushing boys to science and girls away from it
From birth, boys and girls are treated differently from each other
Dance for girls, sports for boys
Boys are encouraged to be active, and girls to be passive
May push them towards certain subjects
Teachers encourage boys to be tough and to show initiative
Girls are expected to be quiet and helpful
Canalisation
Children are geared towards their gender stereotypes
Can be through different toys (cars vs kitchens)\
Could be through verbal appellations (good girl, strong boy)
Analysis (AO3)
Not relevant to contemporary society
Increase in children books that inspire girls 'Ambitious girl'
Moving away from traditional gender socialisation
Subject images, gender identity, and peer pressure
Skelton
Males and females are drawn to different subjects due to their own idea of what is appropriate for their gender
For example, English is seen as a feminine subject
Girls find this choice of subject confirms conception of feminine identity
Kelly
Science is seen as a boys' subject as science teachers are more likely to be men
Examples used in textbooks are also male or drawn on boys' interests
In lessons, boys dominate lab equipment
Colley
Changing of content can alter its gender identity
For example music was once seen as a feminine subject, but it is now becoming more popular with boys
Webb
Over half of women's employment falls into the categories of clerical, personal services, and cleaning
Compared to 1/6 of male workers in these jobs
School / teaching styles
Arnot
Girls prefer to talk that are open ended and realistic
Rather than abstract whereas boys like commentary style answers and clear questions
These tasks are more likely to be mathematical and science bases where there is memorising and a correct answer
Girls choose humanities where it is more debating responses
Gender domains
Tasks and activities that boys and girls see as male or female territory
Browne and Ross
Children are taught gender domains
Confident in performing tasks within their domain
So pick subjects within their domain
Colley
ICT is more masculine as it is methodological, individual, and involves machinery
The way it is taught is off putting for girls, as there are fewer opportunities for group work
Murphy
Asked students to design a boat
Boys focused on how it worked
Girls focused on how people feel
Explains why girls pick humanity subjects and boys pick sciences
Analysis (AO3)
Students at single sex schools do not stereotype students as much
Girls from single sex schools are more likely to do 'male subjects' at university
Girls in all girl schools are 2.4x more likely to pick A level physics than girls in mixed schools
Evaluation (AO3)
Archer
Hyper heterosexual working class identities
Policed by their peers
May lead them to choose subjects that fit into their gender expectations