Gender And Subject Choice

What does there continue to be a fairly traditional pattern of?

‘Boys‘ subjects and ‘girls‘ subjects with boys opting for subjects such as physics and maths while girl are more likely to choose MFL, for example.

What does the National curriculum give pupils little freedom to do?

To choose or drop subjects by making most subjects compulsory until 16. However, where choice is possible, both in the National Curriculum and much more so after 16, boys and girls tend to follow different ‘gender routes‘ through the education system.

When do gendered subject pressures become more noticeable?

After 16, when students have more choice. For example, there are big gender differences in entries for A Level subjects. These differences are mirrored in subject choices at university. These patterns are not new.

What did the institute of Physics find?

That the proportion of A Level physics students who are girls has been ‘stubbornly consistent‘ at around 20%, for over 20 years. This calls into question the effectiveness of policies such as GIST

What do vocational courses prepare students for?

Particular careers. Gender segregation is a very noticeable feature of vocational training. For example, only one in 100 childcare apprentices is a boy

What is gender role socialisation?

The process of learning the behaviour expected of males and females in society. Early socialisation shapes children’s gender identity.

What does Norman note?

That teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative and not be weak of behave like sisses. Girls, on the other hand, are expected to be quiet, helpful clean and tidy.

As a result of differences in socialisation,, what do boys and girls develop tastes in?

Reading. Muprhy and Elwood show how these lead to different subject choices. Boys read hobby books and information texts, while girls are more likely to read stories about people. This helps to explain why boys prefer science subjects and why girls prefer subjects such as English.

What do Browne and Ross argue?

That children’s beliefs about ‘gender domains‘ are shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults. By gender domains, they mean the tasks and activities that bys and girls see s male or female ‘territory‘ and therefore as relevant to themselves.

When are childen more confident in engaging in tasks?

When it is seen as part of their own gender domain.

What did Murphy find?

That boys and girls pay attention to different details even when tackling the same task: in general, girls focus more on how people feel, whereas boys focus on how things are made and work. This helps to explain why girls choose humanities and arts while boys chose science.

What does the gender image of a subject affect?

Who will want to chose it. Sociologists have tried to explain why some subjects are seen as ‘boys‘ or ‘girls‘ subjects in the first place.

What does Kelly argue?

That science is seen as a masculine subject for several reasons:

• Science teachers are more likely to be men.

• The examples teacher use, and those in texbooks often draw on boys rather than girls’ interest.

• In science lessons, boy monopolise the apparatus and dominate the laboratory, acting as if it ‘theirs‘.

What does Colley note?

That computer studies is seen as a masculine subject for two reasons:

• It involves working with machines - part of the male gender domain.

• The way it is taught is off putting to females. Tasks tend to be abstract and teaching styles formal, with few opportunities for group work, which girls favour.

Which students hold less stereotyped subject images?

Students who attend single-sex schools, and they make less traditional subject choices.

What did Leonard find?

That compared to pupils in mixed schools, girls in girls’ schools were more likely to take maths and science A Levels, while boys in boys’ schools were more likely to take English and languages. Girls from single-sex schools were also more likely to study male-dominated subjects at university.

How are Leonard’s findings supported by the institute of physics?

They found that girls in single-sex schools were 2.4 times more likely to take A Level physics than those in mixed schools. The same study found that perceptions of physics are formed outside as well as inside the classroom, for example by the lack of female physicists on television.

What may subject choice be influenced by?

Peer pressure. Other boys and girls may apply pressure to an individual if they disapprove of their choice. For example, boys tend to opt out of music and dance because such activities fall outside of their gender domain and so are likely to attract a negative response from peers.

What did Paechter find?

That because pupils see sport as mainly within the male gender domain, girls who are ‘sporty‘ have to cope with an image that contradicts the conventional female stereotype. This may explain why girls are more likely than boys to opt out of ports.

What did Dewar find??

That male students would call girls ‘lesbian‘ or ‘butch‘ if they appeared to be interested in sport.

What did the institute of physics find?

That ‘there is something about doing physics as a girl in a mixed setting that is particularly off-putting‘. Peer pressure is a powerful influence on gender identity and how pupils see themselves in relation to particular subjects.

In mixed schools, what do peers police?

One another’s subject choices so that girls and boys adopt an appropriate gender identity, with girls pressured to avoid subjects such as physics.

What might an absence of peer pressure from the opposite gender explain?

Why girls in single-sex schools are more likely to choose traditional boys’ subjects. The absence of boys may mean there is less pressure on girls to conform or restrictive stereotypes of what subjects they can study.

What is an important reason for differences in subject choice?

The fact that employment is highly gendered. ‘Women’s’ jobs often involve work similar to that performed by housewives, such as childcare and nursing. Women are concentrated in a narrow range of occupations. Over half of all women’s employment falls within only four categories: clerical, secretarial, personal services and occupations such as cleaning.

What does the sex-typing of occupations affect?

Boys’ and girls’ ideas about what kinds of job are possible or acceptable. This also helps to explain why vocational course are much more gender-specific than academic ouses, since vocational course by definition are more closely linked to students’ career plans.

What is there a social class dimension to the choice of?

Vocational courses. Working-class pupils in particular may make decisions about vocational course that are based on a traditional sense of gender identity. For example, most of the WC girls studied by Fuller had ambitions to go into jobs such as child care of hair and beauty This reflected their working-class habitus.

Where may ambitions, such as those in Fuller’s study arise?

They may arise out of work experience placements. Which are often gendered and classed. Fuller found that placements in feminine, working-class jobs such as nursery nursing and retail work were overwhelmingly the norm for girls in her study. She concludes that the school was implicitly steering girls towards certain types of jobs, and therefore certain types of vocational courses through the work experience it offered them.