skills
Gendered Skills - Skeggs
explanation
Skeggs argues that education reproduces and reinforces a combination of gender and social class inequality. Her study is based on nine years of observations of working-class females on low-level ‘caring’ courses in further education. Skeggs describes two ways in which the courses reproduced class and gender inequalities:
· They encouraged stereotypical feminine qualities such as domesticity and putting others first.
· They emphasised how difficult it is to care properly. They encourage the women to regard their own caring skills as inadequate and to see the expertise of middle-class professionals such as doctors, teachers and health visitors as superior to their own.
As a result, the females come to see themselves both as suited to feminine caring work and as incapable of middle-class professions. This prepares them for low-paid work such as care assistants and also for unpaid women’s work in the home.
evidence
Like Skeggs, Feminist Buswell argues that vocationalism reproduces gender (and class) inequalities. In terms of the vocational education and vocational training females are often channelled into low-level courses that are often linked to a caring role and/or low paid and part-time work.
Additionally, Fuller (2011) found schools were steering boys and girls towards certain types of jobs through work experience. Fuller found that the school encouraged working class girls to attend nursery, retail or beauty placements. Therefore, the school offered gendered and classed experiences.
evaluation
Feminists recognise many government policies have been pushed forward which now promote equality in the workplace, such as Equal Pay Act 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act 1975 helping to reducing the glass ceiling and gendered roles.
New Right Realists argue that it’s a positive thing that females are taking part in vocationalism, this. Is because it is making sure everyone in society has the opportunities to learn the skills for work and ultimately it will reduce the amount of NEETs. It is also positive as its creating more employment opportunities for females.