Gender in education

Gender in education

1. Gender socialisation

   • Genderquake - there has been a major shift in traditional gender patterns in education.
     • Wilkinson 1994 - Less than a quarter felt that women don’t need a stable relationship to feel happy and fulfilled, for example. This shows that women are more likely to feel that they need a stable job in order to feel happy; this can only likely be achieved through education.
       • Agreeing theory is Feminism - Social Trends 2008 - Equality Act 2010 - Fiona Norman
         • Disagreeing theory is functionalism - women should stick to expressive roles like boys stick to instrumental roles - McDowell - Parsons
   • Sex Role Differentiation - divide in gender based subject choice
     • Parsons - Defining expressive and instrumental roles of men and women.
       • Agreeing theory is Functionalism - Organic analogy - Durkheim - woodwork vs home ec.
         • Disagreeing theory is Interactionism - Gender is no longer binary - Connell’s study of the 5 masculinity categories - children are able to dispute the labels they are given.
   • Canalisation and manipulation within the family and education as ideological state apparatus.
     • Oakley - She defines canalisation and manipulation, these are processes of socialisation and can be pandered to different agents of socialisation to suit their needs.
       • Agreeing theory is Marxism - ideological state apparatus - Althusser - bourgeoisie and proletariat.
         • Disagreeing theory is New Right - Giddens - 2% teen parents - lazy and criminal
   • Gender identity and attitudes leads to gender based subject choice.
     • Sue Sharpe - Primary socialisation (family) creates gender identity and secondary agents of socialisation (like education), this is why subject choices are so heavily gendered.
       • Agreeing theory is radical feminism and liberal feminism - Delphy (patriarchy) - Sommerville (Equality Act 2010 - more applicable to WC than MC.
         • Disagreeing theory is Functionalism - Murdoch (sexual, reproductive, economic, educational) - break down of expressive roles - role models
   • Working class families are more likely to stay traditional, this adds to the gender based subject choice differences.
     • Clarricoates - Class and gender influence subject choice. Middle class girls are more likely to choose male dominated subjects, whereas working class girls have a more traditional view of careers.
       • Agreeing theory is Marxism - proletariat (women and WC) and bourgeoisie - reduces difference in economic capital as defined by Bourdieu as education becomes inclusive of women and WC - Social Trends 2008
         • Disagreeing theory is Interactionism - labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy - Goodacre 1986 vs Mirza
   • In a time of postmodernity, gender is no longer binary, so more masculine boys struggle to find their median in education leading to them under attaining.
     • Connell - Defined the 5 masculinity categories. Hegemonic, normative, complicit, subordinate, marginalised.
       • Agreeing theory is Interactionism - labelling theory - Merton 1948 - agree should be stereotypes.
         • Disagreeing theory is Functionalism - instrumental roles - Parsons - no sub categories - meiosis of ambition.

2. School organisation

   • Course work - girls are socialised to work at things longer.
     • Clarricoates - MC girls are moving into more male dominated subject areas, such as science, which often have more coursework. Since girls are organised into gender norms of being more organised, they achieve better coursework results.
       • Wilkinson - genderquake - less than a quarter of girls felt they needed a stable relationship to be happy - change in traditional roles.
         • The New Right - reference to NEET - twice as many boys than girls - lazy underclass - single parents on the welfare state.
   • Linear A-levels
     • Oakley - would claim that through manipulation, parents encourage girls to look to the end goal - girls focus increases and they have the ability to see the end goal of their studies.
       • This gender norm of girls working at things in comparison to boys is supported by Frosh's study where boys who succeed and work hard at education are seen as more feminine.
         • A Functionalist sociologist such a Murray may argue that it isn't a problem of disadvantaging boys in the subject of English since they believe in a system of meritocracy in education.
   • English is now the core subject
     • McRobbie and Garber - 'teeny bopper' sub-culture and bedroom culture have lead to girls doing more reading.
       • Agreeing study is Fiona Norman - parents admit to spending at least 3 times longer on reading to their daughters than their sons, whilst they focus on physical activities with their sons.
         • A Functionalist may argue that it doesn;t matter what the core subject is, a lot of boys would still under achieve - support = Skelton 2001 - laddism - primary socialisation
   • Emphasis is given to 'academic' subjects - essay writing benefits girls because of the extended periods of concentration.
     • McDowell - boys still adopt instrumental roles
       • Parsons - functionalism - instrumental and expressive roles
         • Postmodernist may argue, with evidence from Jackson 2006's study, that this is not an issue based on gender because girls who adopt the 'ladette' sub culture can also under achieve in academic subjects.
   • Role models
     • Diane Abotts - boys need male role models in education so they can relate to the syllabus and prevent them from under attaining.
       • Zaretsky - since boys are lacking in the proper guidance because teaching is a female dominated profession, through their failure they support capitalism by allowing the bourgeoisie to exploit the boys as the proletariat in manual labour, where they will end up upon their failure in the education system.
         • Functionalists would argue that students of the education system are not socialised into the norms and values of the bourgeoisie but instead there is a 'collective conscience' as defined by Durkheim. Boys crumble under the pressure of achieving good grades whilst having no male role models to look up to. Therefore under attaining.

3. Subcultures and peers

   • Female subcultures improve levels of attainment.
     • McRobbie and Garber 1976 - 'Teeny bopper' subculture withing bedroom culture, since girls spend more time in their bedrooms, they have more time to spend on homework etc.
       • An agreeing theory is feminism - Oakley (canalisation and manipulation) - girls are socialised into being passive
         • Disagreeing theory is the New Right - education as an establishment is feminine whereas boys who are likely to succeed as breadwinners and have an instrumental role are more hegemonic - Francis 2000
   • Hegemonic anti-school subcultures lead to boys under attaining.
     • Studied 12 working class lads rejected education and formed anti-school subcultures. They just wanted to go to work and didn’t see the point of school. They wanted manual labour jobs in traditional industries that required few or no qualifications They displayed a hegemonic masculinity.
       • An agreeing theory would be Interactionism - Connell's 5 masculinity categories - education is increasingly feminine - hegemonic labelled badly by typically female teachers Becker 1952.
         • A disagreeing theory would be Marxism - since boys don't want an academic career they lack ambition, - Althusser (social state apparatus) - formal curriculum - proletariat is WC. More a question of class than of gender.
   • Anti-school subcultures like 'lads' are formed because of the rising equality of women, this leads to male under attainment.
     • Francis - Men feel threatened by women as they gain more equality in society. They distance themselves from females as they move into more dominated male area of achievement. This leads to them rejecting education and forming anti-school subcultures like ‘lads’.
       • An agreeing theory would be Feminism - Equality Act 2010 - Social Trends 2008 - men can get a better or as well paid job as women without working as hard - both boys and girls are limited by patriarchy - Delphy
         • A disagreeing theory would be postmodernism - gender is no longer binary so it is not a standard people should be judged upon - may suggest that due to the opposition to femininity, boys spend less time in their rooms doing work, thewrefore under attaining - no 'bedroom culture' - McRobbie
   • Boys may be ostracised by peers for success in education, by disputing this label boys begin to under attain.
     • Frosh 2002 - boys who did well were seen as more feminine.
       • An agreeing theory would be Marxism - boys under attain because they don't want academic careers in fear of being ostracised - aim for economic capital - devaluing of cultural capital as it is 'feminine' - Bourdeiu defines capitals.
         • A disagreeing theory would be New Right - Giddens - lazy underclass - not labelling theory - rise in single parenting - 2% are teens though - welfare state
   • Since a rise in equality, some boys leaning to the right wing may have misdirected passion leading to boys under attaining.
     • Mac an Ghaill - Teachers often supported views of male students that were homophobic and hostile to women.
       • An agreeing theory may be Functionalism - boys are protecting the sex differentiation roles - Parsons - in the interest of the 4 roles of the family later in life - Murdoch
         • A disagreeing theory would be feminism - patriarchy has held women back for a very long time - Delphy - influencing legislation: Equality Act 2010
   • Laddism is backlashed by teachers in an effort to combat boys under attaining at school.
     • Skelton - Boys start school with an already formed view of laddism. Teachers responded with tough measures that could be seen as equally macho and hard as the laddish behavior itself.
       • Agreeing theory is Interactionism - labelling theory - Merton 1948 - agree should be stereotypes.
         • Disagreeing theory is marxism - socialises children of proletariat into accepting an unfair society - Althusser - should be more compensatory education like that of New Labour under Blair in 2000's.
   • Male under attainment is more prolific in schools where the sub-culture of 'lads' is prevalent.
     • Jackson 2006 - Lads and Ladettes in school. It is ‘uncool’ to work hard and behave in school. Some girls and boys become part of this lad / ladette subculture because of a fear of academic failure.
       • Agreeing theory is postmodernism - not solely based on gender since there are 'lads' and 'ladettes' - gain more satisfaction from popularity as a social status than from academic success - Stacey - retrospective perspective character building - education becomes irrelevant to self-actualisation.
         • Disagreeing theory is New Right - ths usb-culture is caused by improper socialisation in the family and followed through into the education system with the rise of the welfare state and therefore the lazy underclass. - Howard - Redwood

4. Feminists in the UK

   • Less than 1% of MP's are female
   • The gender pay gap is 19%
   • Approximately 70% of those in minimum wage jobs are women.
   • 1/3 of girls have been sexually abused at school.

5. Theories on attainment

   • Marxists
     • Boys don't have an ambition because they don't want an academic career.
   • Functionalists
     • Meritocracy, don’t have the ambition to achieve. Female and male gender roles.
   • Postmodernists
     • Would argue that boys do not under-attain, gender isn’t a category to judge people upon.
   • Interactionists
     • Because of the way boys are labelled by typically female teachers.
   • New Right
     • A generation of the lazy underclass feel that they can sign on and that is socially acceptable with the introduction of the welfare state. May focus on future policies because boys should be the future breadwinners.
   • Feminists
     • Boys don’t have the ambition to get good grades because men can get a better paid job than women. Both boys and girls are limited by patriarchy in their education.

6. Current situation

   • Up until the late 1980’s boys outperformed girls on O’levels as well as A-levels and they were more likely to go to University.
   • A higher percentage of boys enroll into Maths and other sciences, apart from Biology.
   • In 2010, there was a 2% difference in performance of girls achieving A*’s more than boys, in 2015, this is just 0.1%.
   • 5 A*-C’s, 52% boys and 61% girls.