Education and gender

What percentage of girls in primary school could concentrate without supervision for 10 minutes?

62%

What percentage of boys in primary school could concentrate without supervision for 10 minutes?

49%

What stages in education do girls outperform boys

key stage 1-3 especially in english,GCSE by 10%,alevels

Who is more likely to achieve A,B and C at alevel in all subjects?

girls

What is feminism’s impact on girls in education?

raised their expectations,ambitions and self-esteem

What did McRobbie find in her study of magazines?

girl’s magazines in the 1970’s encouraged women to get married whereas magazines from the 90’s encouraged assertive independent women

What is an evaluation point of McRobbie’s study?

women are still oversexualised in the media

What important act for women rights was brought in 1970?

equal pay act

What did the 1970 equal pay act mean?

women had to be paid the same as men for equal work

What did the 1975 sexual discrimination act mean?

that men or women could’t be discriminated against based on their sex or marital status

How has the pay gap changed from 1975 to now?

30% to 13% in 2024

What proportion of women worked in 1971 compared to now?

53% to 72% in 2020

Why do more women work now compared to the 1970’s?

growth of service sector and flexible part time work

How has the idea of women’s future changed?

now women see themselves going to work instead of being a housewife

Why do women gain more qualifications now?

more opportunities and encouraging role models

Why do women still struggle to gain high powered roles?

discrimination in the workplace

What is the pay gap in full time employment?

7%

How has changes in the family led to more women succeeding in education?

women now have role models of women who are the breadwinners and financially independent so they aspire for that themselves

What did Sharpe find in her interviews with girls in the 1970’s?

educational success unfeminine,ambition as unattractive, their priorities involved finding love and marriage

What did Sharpe find in her interviews with girls in the 1990’s?

they had priorities of having a career and being able to support themselves and being independent

What did O’connor find about girls in the 2000’s?

marriage and children were not a major part of their life plans

What did Beck and Beck Gershiem theorise was the reason for girls wanting to be independent?

independence is now valued much more than in the past,careers promises women recognition and economic self-sufficiency

What did Fuller find about girls and their desires for a career?

educational success was part of some girls identity,girls were the creators of their own futures and aimed for a professional career

What may some working class girls still aspire for?

traditional gender roles and to go into low paid “woman’s” work

What did Reay theorise as the reason for working class girls low ambitions?

reflected their class position and opportunities that they believe they have,traditional gender identity is attainable and offers status

What did Biggart theorise as the reason for working class girls low ambitions?

working class girls have a more precarious position in the labour market so motherhood is only option for them making education unimportant

What did Biggart find about about working class girls desired jobs?

they desired lower level jobs

What are equal opportunity policies?

policies adopted to try and make education equal

How has feminism impacted the education system?

encouraged the idea that boys and girls should have equal opportunities in school

What policies have been introduced to try and get women into science?

Girls in science and technology and women in science and engineering

What had been done to try and increase the number of female role models in schools?

bringing female scientists into school

What has been done to try and reduce gender stereotyping in science subjects?

educating science teachers

How had career advice been changed?

been made non-sexist

What did the national curriculum change in 1988 introduce?

introduced GCSE’s ,coursework, marketisation and parental choice

What did Boaler(1998) theorise about why girls achieve more than boys?

the reason for girls overachieving is that education is now a meritocracy and girls work harder than boys

What did the department of education find in 2023(percentage of female teachers)

82% in primary schools 63% in secondary schools

How has the increase in female teachers and head teachers affected girls?

they now have positive role models

How did Read catagorise the two types of discourse in primary school ?

disciplinarian- authority is explicit and obvious(masculine) and liberal-authority is implicit and invisible(feminine)

What did Read find about teachers who used the disciplinarian discouse?

they included most female and male teachers

What did Read argue from her finding?

primary education has not been feminised and female teachers were just as likely to use masculine discourse

What did Hasse find(gender of education)

it is male dominated but numerically female

What did Francis find from her survey of 7-8 yr olds?

2/3 said that gender of the teacher didn’t matter

Why does coursework favour girl’s?

it requires skills that girls are more likely to have developed

What does Mitsos and Brownwell say girls are better at?

spending time on their work,taking time with presentation,meeting deadlines,bringing the right equipment and resources to lessons

What skills do girls gain from maturing earlier?

ability to concentrate for longer,better developed language skills

What style of exams are girls better in?

oral exams

How are girls socialsed?

to be neat,tidy and patient

What does Sewell argue about schools?

they have become feminised and celebrate qualities that are more associated with girls

What does Sewell argue about how school should be changed?

some of it should be replaced with final exams and more emphesis should be placed on outdoor adventure

What did Yougov find about what boys thought of male teachers?

42% said that they made them behave better and work harder

What is an evaluation point for the idea of coursework resulting in boys underachieving?

girls had already overtaken boys in education before this change was made

What did Elwood find about coursework and exams?

exams still hold more influence on final grade

What did Jane and French find about the attention boys received?

they received more attention because they attracted more attention

How may girls be perceived by teachers?

more cooperative

What is the self-fulfilling prophecy for boys in school?

that they will misbehave so boys feels targeted by teachers leading to them misbehaving as a reactive to unfairness

How may the self-fulfilling prophecy affect girls in school?

teachers may have higher expectations of them so they are pushed more as a result they will have higher self esteem and achieve more

What is the liberal feminist viewpoint?

good progress has been made to make education a meritocracy but steps still need to be taken in order to improve education

How do radical feminists view the education system ?

patriarchal,that allows for sexual harassment,male domination and a male-centric curriculum

What percentage of girls on free school meals achieve 5 A-C grades at GCSE?

41%

What percentage of girls not on free school meals achieve 5 A-C grades at GCSE?

68%

What is symbolic capital?

status given by peers

What did Archer et al find about working class girls identity?

W.C. girls hyper-feminine identity conflicts with the schools values

What do W.C. girls gain from their hyper-feminine identity?

symbolic capital

What did W.C. girls do to gain a sense of self?

adopted a hyper-heterosexual identity,getting a boyfriend,being ‘loud’

What does W.C. girls identity result in?

them underachieving in school and not reaching middle class levels of economic capital

What would girls who didn’t have the hyper feminine identity be labelled?

tramp

How may girls who conformed to hyper feminine identity be treated?

punished by the school and labelled as distracted and unable to achieve success

What is symbolic violence as theorised by Bourdieu?

witholding of symbolic capital by the school

What is the ideal female pupil?

desexualised and middle class

What did a W.C. girls having a boyfriend give them?

symbolic capital

What was the result of having a boyfriend for W.C. girls?

may lose interest in university or studying ‘masculine’ subjects and may lead to them wanting to ‘settle down’

What is the being ‘loud’ identity of W.C. girls?

being outspoken,independent and assertive and challenging teacher authority

How may teacher’s perceive W.C. girls loud identity?

aggressive and the opposite of the ideal female student

What is the problem of W.C. identities and educational success?

they can either gain symbolic capital through adopting that identity or educational capital through conforming to the ideal student

What did Archer theorise as the reason for W.C. girls underachievement?

conflict between W.C. identities and educational success

What did Evans find about successful W.C. girls?

those who aim to complete higher education do it for their families

Why did Evans find as the reason for W.C. girls wanting to go to university close by?

economic necessity

Why do other sociologists think that W.C. girls want to stay at home?

they wanted to care for their families as that is a part of their identities

What path do boys and girls follow through the education system?

a gendered routes

What percentage of a-level physics students are girls?

20%

What percentage of a-level sociology students are boys?

25%

What is the problem with programs such as WISE?

less girls still do science subjects

What is the socialisation of gender roles?

when girls and boys are taught is expected of them from society

What did Norma find on bow girls and boys are socialised?

girls and boys are dressed differently ,given different toys and encouraged to take part in different activities from birth

What did Bryne find on teachers expectations of girls v boys?

teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative whereas girls are expected to be quiet,helpful,clean and tidy

What is an evaluation point for gender socialisation?

things are becoming more gender neutral

What did Murphy and Elwood find about girls and boys book preferences ?

boys prefer hobby books and information texts but girls like to read stories about people

What did Brown and Ross find on what shaped gender domains?

children’s beliefs about gender domains are shaped by their early experiences and adults expectations

What are gender domains?

tasks and activities that are male and female territory

What tasks may children be more comfortable in engaging with?

things that are considered in their domain

What did Murphey find on what boys and girls pay attention to ?

boys and girls pay attention to different details in the same task

What details may girls be more likely to pay attention to?

how people feel

What details may boys pay attention to?

how things work and how they are made

What is an evaluation point to gender domains and socialisation as a reason for why subject choices are gendered?

in singles sex schools subject choices are much less gendered

What did Leonard find about single sex schools and subject choices?

girls were more likely to pick maths and physics and boys were more likely to pick English and languages

What did Kelly theorise as the reason why science is seen as a boys subject?

more science teachers are male,examples draw on boys interests,boys monopolise lab equipment

What is an evaluation of Kelly’s theory?

some girls have a more even split of gender of science teachers or may have more female science teachers

What did Colley theorise as the reason for computers being seen as a masculine subject?

it involves working with machines and the way the subject is taught is off putting to girls

How may subject choices be influenced by peers?

certain choices may attract negative attention from peers

What did Paetcher find about girls who choose sports?

girls have to cope with the fact that that was outside their domain