Gender identity and school- how school reinforces gender identity

School and gender identity- how are they linked

School is an important arena in which a child can act out their gender identity and affirm their masculinity or femininity. However, there is pressure in school to conform to traditional gender identities which may clash with the expectation of academic success

Male peer groups- reinforce idea that working hard is unmasculine

Working class boys- genuinely didn’t make an effort in school as part of being male meant being cool and not caring about school. for them real boys don’t try hard at school and more interested in dossing around with their mates (Paul Willis study). these boys referred to boys that wanted to do well as dickhead achievers or gay

Middle class boys- on the other hand many middle class boys would try hard to succeed behind the scenes but in public they projected an image of effortless acheivement. pretending they weren’t really making an effort and being smug when they did well

softer masculinity in 6th form- once academic success has been achieved boys often drop the tough assertive laddish behaviour and show soft masculinity more emotional and expressive

female peer groups- reinforce ideas of traditional femininity

Louise Archer- hyper feminine identity gives girls symbolic capital from their peers

Ringrose- girls must get the balance right between a sexualised identity (popular with boys) and feminine identity (popular with girls). some girls become asexual and create a boffin identity to be academically successful

Ladettes study- Archer interview a ladette who felt as if the school had a grudge against her. over one summer she transformed her identity to a classically feminine one and got on much better with staff at her new college as a result.

Verbal abuse

Rob Connell argued that verbal abuse is one way in which dominant gender and sexual identities are reinforced

male gaze- how media and societal norms portray women as sexual objects. Mac and Ghaill argue that the way male pupils and teachers look girls and down seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements on their appearance is a form of surveillance where dominant masculine identities are reinforced

Sue Lees double standards- found that boys called girls slags if they appeared to be sexually available and drags if they didn’t, negatively labelling girls for being promiscuous or not. However, if a boy is promiscuous he is praised for this e.g. called heroes or studs. according to lees this is one way in which male dominance starts to assert itself

Teachers attitudes and behaviours towards pupils

Chris Haywood found that male teachers told boys off for behaving like girls and teased them when they gained lower marks in tests that girls. teachers also tended to ignore boys verbal abuse of girls. girls are also disciplined more for bad behaviour

teachers attitude and behaviours towards other teachers

there is also some evidence that male teachers sometimes display a protective attitude towards female teachers coming into their class to rescue them from disruptive pupils who display threatening behaviour

Teachers attitudes and behaviours- view of typical male and female

John Abram’s research found that teachers idea of a typical girl was of her being well behaved and studious

whereas the ideas of a typical boy were of them being trouble makers

thus boys received more negative feedback than girls which could reinforce their notion of masculinity being associated with messing around in school

Teachers attitudes and behaviours- subject choice advice

If male students want to do traditionally female subjects, tutors are more likely to question them critically asking them if they are really sure about their decision meaning students are under more pressure to avoid those subjects that do not fall into their gender domains

Hegemonic masculinity

the idea that heterosexual masculine identities are dominant/superior to female and gay identities. Connell says schools reinforce this

Evaluation

gender identities differ according to ethnicity e.g. African carribean boys more likely to form an anti school subculture than white boys due to racism as well as laddish behaviour. Chinese and Indian boys an girls are the highest achieving ethnic group in britain

pride activity in schools is increasing