GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EDUCATION

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS

EXTERNAL FACTORS AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT

• The impact of feminism

• The feminist movement has lead to more rights for women since the 1960's. However equal rights have not completely been achieved but there has been considerable success which is highlighted by Angela McRobbie who compared women's magazines from the 1970s and 1990s. In the 1970s the magazines were emphasising the importance of marriage and the 1990s one had images of independent women.

EXTERNAL FACTORS CONTINUED…

• Changes in the family

• There have been major changes in the family since 1970s. These include:

• increase in divorce rate

• increase in cohabitation and decline in the number of first marriages

• increase in the number of lone-parent families (mostly female headed)

• smaller families.

• These changes have affected girl's attitude towards education. E.g. An increase in the divorce rate encourages girls to look after themselves and to do well at school so they can become 'independent'.

EXTERNAL FACTORS CONTINUED…

• Changes in women's employment

• There have been important changes in women's employment. These include:

• The 1970 Equal Pay act makes it illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value.

• The proportion of women in employment has risen from 47% (1959) to over 70% (2007).

• Some women are breaking through the 'glass ceiling'- the invisible barrier which keeps them out of professional and managerial jobs.

• These changes have encourages girls to see their future with greater opportunities which provides them with the incentive to gain qualifications.

• Girls' changing ambitions

• Sharpe compared interviews conducted with girls from 1970s and 1990s. She found major shifts in the way girls see their future now. In 1970s, the girls had low aspirations and prioritised marriage and the family. The girls in the 1990s wanted to support themselves and see their future as independent women.

INTERNAL FACTORS AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT

• Equal opportunities policies• GIST (Girls into science and technology) and WISE (Women into science and

engineering) encourage girls to pursue careers in non-traditional areas. Female scientists have visited school acting as role models so that girls become aware of these policies and use them to thrive in educational success.

• The introduction of the National Curriculum made boys and girls study mostly the same subjects which removed one source of gender inequality.

• Positive role models in schools• An increase in the amount of female teachers and head teachers means that

there are more women in positions of authority and seniority which means they can act as role models for girls and push them towards educational success

INTERNAL FACTORS CONTINUED…

• GCSE and coursework

• Gorard found that the gender gap was constant from 1975 till 1988 when it started to favour girls because of the introduction of GCSEs and coursework. Gorard concluded that the gender gap is a 'product of the changed system of assessment rather any more general failing of boys'.

• Mitsos and Browne suggest that girls are more successful at coursework because they are better at meeting deadlines, more organised, spend more time on their work and more conscientious.

INTERNAL FACTORS CONTINUED…

• Teacher attention• Swann and Graddol found that boys attract the teacher's attention so they

get more opportunities to speak. However they found that teachers interacted with girls more positively because the discussion focused on school work.

• Swann found that boys dominate class discussions but girls prefer group work and are better at listening and cooperating. This may explain why teachers respond to them more positively as they are seen as cooperative.

• Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum• Research from the 1970s found women to be portrayed as housewives and

mothers in textbooks. However the removal of these stereotypes from textbooks have improved girl's achievement and removed a barrier.

INTERNAL FACTORS CONTINUED…• Selection and league tables• Jackson sees the introduction of league table as favouring girl's achievement

as schools want to attract high achieving pupils who tend to be girls and not low achieving pupils (majority boys). This leaves boys to be seen as 'liability students'- obstacles to the school improving its league system.

• Two types of girls' achievement• Liberal feminists- They celebrate the progress made so far on improving

achievement, but believe that more progress will be made by educational opportunities policies and overcoming stereotypes.

• Radical feminists- They see the progress made but still see school as remaining patriarchal e.g. education still limits subject choices and there are still more male head teachers than female.