Gender Differences in Achievment

Summary

• statistics have shown that girls outperform boys in education

• Sociologists suggest this is due to external factors such as girls changing ambitions, family structures and internal factors such as teacher attention, equal opportunities

External factors for girls

• impact of feminism

• Changes in women’s employment

• Changing girls ambition

Impact of feminism

• McRobbie 1970s magazines heavily talked about girls getting married, now they show images of independent women

• 2010 equality act

Changes in women’s employment

• 1970 Equal Pay Act

• 1975 Sex Discrimination Act

Charging girls ambition

Sharpe- 1970s girls ambition was to marry and have children, 1990s girls ambition changed to careers and wanting to be independent

GCSE and coursework

• Mitos and Brown found that girls were better in coursework due to organization

• Gorad found that the gender gap in achievement increased when gcses were introduced

GCSE and coursework

• Mitos and Brown found that girls were better in coursework due to organization

• Gorad found that the gender gap in achievement increased when gcses were introduced

Role Models

More female teachers, ‘female gender domain’

Role Models

More female teachers, ‘female gender domain’

Teacher attention

• Swann found that boys dominate class discussions, girls are better at listening so teachers respond positively to girls

• French and French found teachers paid boys and girls similar attention for academics, but boys more due to behavior

Selection and league tables

Marketization policies have led to increased competition

internal factors for girls

• gcse and coursework

• Equal opportunities policy

• Role models

• Teacher attention

• Selection and league tables

Boys external factors

• boys literacy

• Decline in manual labour

Boys literacy

Parents spend less time reading to sons as it’s a ‘feminine’ activity

Decline in manual labour

Globalization led to the decline in heavy industries, the led to a male “identity crisis”

Boys internal factors

• feminization of schooling

• Laddish subcultures

Feminization of schooling

• boys fall behind because education has been “feminized”

• Introduction of coursework is seen to disadvantage boys

• 1 in 6 primary school teachers are male

Laddish subcultures

There is peer-pressure on boys to demonstrate their masculinity of being ‘anti-school’