Gender: Gender and Subject Choice Flashcards
What are some examples of ‘girl subjects’ and ‘boy subjects’?
Girls:
- Art
- Textiles
- English
Boys:
- Maths
- Science
- DT
- Gender Role Socialisation. Early socialisation shapes children’s identity. What does Norman (1998) say about how girls and boys are raised differently?
- Toys (cars, dolls).
- Clothes (trousers, dresses).
- Colours (blue, pink).
- Activities (football, ballet).
- TV shows (aggressive, fantasy).
- Reading:
Boys = hobby books and information texts.
Girls = stories about people.
What are gender domains?
Tasks and activities that boys and girls see as male or female ‘territory’ and relevant to themselves. For example, it is more likely for females to look after their sick children than males.
What do Brown and Ross state about gender domains?
Children’s beliefs about ‘gender domains’ are shaped by early experiences and adults’ expectations. Children are more confident when engaging in tasks that they see as a part of their gender domain.
Who states that boys and girls pay attention to different details when tackling the same task? What are the different details that they pay attention to?
- Murphy (1991).
- Girls = how they feel. Boys = how things are made and work (logic).
- Gendered Subject Images.
What does Kelly say about science?
- Teachers are more likely to be men.
- Examples used and textbooks often draw on boys’ rather than girls’ interests.
- Lessons → boys dominate the lab and take control (monopolise) of apparatus, as if it is theirs.
What does Colley say about computer science?
- Involves working with machines → part of the male gender domain.
- Teaching style is off-putting to females.
- Abstract styles, fewer group opportunities and teaching styles formal.
When pupils attend single sex schools, is there more or less stereotyping?
Less stereotyped subject images and choices.
What does Leonard (2006) say about single sex schooling?
- Compared to pupils in mixed schools, girls in girls’ schools were more likely to pick maths and science A levels.
- Boys in boys’ schools were more likely to take English and languages.
- Girls from single sex schools were more likely to study male-dominated subjects at university.
What does the Institute of Physics study explain?
Girls in single sex state schools were 2.4x more likely to take A level physics than those in mixed schools.
- Gender Identity and Peer Pressure. Peer pressure influences subject choice… What does Paetcher (1998) state about sport?
- Because pupils see sport as mainly within the male gender domain, girls who are sporty have to cope with an image that contradicts the conventional female stereotype.
- Girls are more likely to opt out of sport. Same for physics.
- Peers police one anothers subject choice.
- Gendered Career Opportunities. What are examples of ‘men’ jobs and ‘women’ jobs?
- Men: construction, engineering, binmen).
- Women: Teachers, nurses, youth workers).
What are the 4 categories that more than half of women’s employment is within?
- Clerical.
- Secretarial.
- Personal services.
- Occupations such as cleaning.
How does ‘sex typing’ affect boys and girls?
‘Sex typing’ affects girls’ and boys’ ideas about what kinds of jobs are acceptable or possible.
What are vocational courses?
More gender-specific than academic courses. They are more closely linked to students’ career plans.
