gender and educational experience and outcomes (outside school) Flashcards
changes in women’s employment
Equal Pay Act, 1970 made it illegal to pay male and female employee’s different amounts for doing jobs of equal skill level.
Sex Discrimination Act, 1975 aimed to promote equality of opportunity between sexes by making it illegal to treat men and women differently at work.
More women are working than in previous decades (over 2/3 now) and there are more jobs that are seen are ‘suitable’ for women e.g. service sector.
Some women are now breaking through the glass ceiling e.g. Theresa May, Hilary Clinton
changes to women’s ambitions and aspirations, sue sharpe
Carried out a study into girls’ aspirations by doing unstructured interviews with school girls in the ‘70s and again in the ‘90s. She found that in the ‘70s, girls said their priorities were love, marriage, and children, whereas in the ‘90s, girls put careers and independence first
changing in media representations of women; mcrobbie
Carried out a study on girls’ magazines, and found that in the ‘70s Jackie promoted love and boyfriends as girls’ priorities, whereas in the ‘90s, Just Seventeen focussed more on being independent/assertive, having a career, etc.
changes to the family
Increase in divorce rate/ more SPFs: The divorce rate has more than tripled since the 1970s, and this is one of the main reasons why the number of SPFs has increased significantly.
More dual-earner families (neo-conventional – Chester): Nowadays it is the norm for both parents to work, whereas in the ‘50s many mothers were housewives.
Also: increase in cohabitation, decreased marriage rate and fertility rates.
primary socialisation and literacy (boys achievement)
DCSF (2007) – the gender gap is mainly the result of boys having poorer literacy/ language skills. Parents spend less time reading to their sons and its usually Mums doing the reading, not Dads. Typical hobbies for boys don’t help to develop communication skills e.g. computer games/football, as opposed to girls ‘bedroom culture’ (McRobbie)
globalisation and the decline of traditional mens jobs
Decline in industries like iron/steel/mining/ engineering – moved abroad for cheap labour (part of globalisation) - these were mainly male jobs, so now an ‘identity crisis’ (Mitsos + Browne)
Undermines motivation and self esteem
changes in the family. men
Increase in divorce rate/ more SPFs = lack of male role models. Dennis and Erdos (the New Right) argue that ‘fatherless families’ create delinquent boys
