Gender Differences in Education - The Rise of Feminism

Trends in achievement:

• Across social class and ethnic backgrounds, girls perform better than their male counterparts

• Recent trends from the late 1980s onwards have been a reversal of historic trends

• Impact of the second wave of feminism from the late 1950s onwards

What was the second wave of feminism?:

• The first wave of feminism looked at establishing political equality

• Second-wave feminism focused on legal, economic and social equality

• Women’s liberation movement, growth of feminism sociology

• Subsequent waves of feminism tackled intersectionality

How has second-wave feminism influenced girl’s achievement?:

• Changing attitudes towards women in the workplace

• Legal equality in the workplace between men and women

• Changing aspirations of women towards work

• Change to traditional gender roles and gender socialisation

Application of social policies:

• Promotion of part-time university courses

• Equal Pay Act

• Sex Discrimination Act

• Equality Act

• In-school initiatives such as GIST and WISE

Evaluations:

• Did second-wave feminism tackle inequality for all women

• Despite the progress of girls, a gender pay gap still exists

• Glass ceiling employment

• Progress is being made, but it has slowed- predicted gender pay gap will cease to exist by 2050

Glass ceiling employment:

• It is a metaphorical invisible barrier that prevents certain individuals from being promoted to managerial and executive-level positions within an organisation or industry