Gender and Achievement - External Factors

Question 1

Changes in Girls’ Ambitions

Answer 1

• There has been an increase in female role models, promoting that women can be successful in education and careers.
• Women are more career-focused and in paid employment.

→SHARPE:
compared the ambitions of girls over 20 years.
1970s → marriage and family
1990s → career
Many girls today want careers, so stay focused on school and want to achieve.

Question 2

Changes in the Family

Answer 2

• The rising number in single parent households has affected girls’ attitude of education.
• Single mums are becoming breadwinners and are role models for girls. They are financially independent.
• Due to rising divorce rate, girls know they can’t rely financially on a man, so they want to get good jobs.

Question 3

Leisure Time

Answer 3

• Boys and girls do different activities outside of school.

→MCROBBIE:
Outside school, girls have a bedroom culture and create their own subcultures where talking, working hard and being neat are seen as important. Their communication skills are developed. Boys tend to spend their free time outside doing more physical activities which do not contribute to their education.

Question 4

Gendered Socialisation

Answer 4

• Boys are socialised

Question 5

Boys and Literacy

Answer 5

• Many boys see reading as a feminine activity because it is usually mothers who read to their children.
• This means many boys lack a male role model for reading.
• Research shows that by 8 years old, many boys lose interest in reading.

Question 6

Changes in the Economy

Answer 6

• Globalisation has led to a decline in traditional manual jobs, which w/c men do.
• As a result w/c boys don’t see the point in working hard at school because there aren’t any jobs for them.
• Crisis of masculinity. Men no longer feel they have a place in the workforce so seek more feminine skills.