Essay
the effects of gender identity in education
- Course
- Institution
the effects of gender identity in education
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
xxtaylaxx
Content preview
An Intro to Critical Engagement with Equality and Identity in EducationIn what way is gender a problematic identity in Education? - How girls educational
attainment has been affected by the changing attitudes towards gender identity.
Identity can be defined as a set of physiological, personal or behavioural characteristics by
which an individual can be recognised from; for example class, ethnicity and gender. It also
includes how a person recognises themselves in society, e.g. the clothes they wear, who
they associate with, or the kind music they listen to. This all adds up to a person’s individual
identity. In education a child’s identity can impact their opportunities from an early age and
statistics on this are widely available. For example simply typing into google ‘Identity and
attainment’ I found statistics on lots of different websites. One publication I found
particularly interesting was on GCSE Attainment divided by pupil Characteristics showing
varying statistics on the differences in Key stage 4 achievement. The report shows that girls
continue to outperform boys, pupils not eligible for free school meals outperform those
who are, and pupils with English as a first language performed better as a sector in
comparison to those who don’t have English as a first language (Department for Education,
2010) proving that identity barriers do still exist in education regardless of the amount of
equal opportunity and anti-discrimination legislation and acts that are around these days.
In this essay I will be discussing the history of gender identity specifically and how it has
effected educational attainment over the years. Gender identity refers to a person’s inner
sense of gender, either being male or female. It is usually developed through early
childhood as a result of biological and environmental influences though different
perspectives to this may disagree. The word gender is sometimes used interchangeably with
the word sex however it refers to the social roles and behaviours that society considers
appropriate for men and women. Gender is not fixed at birth where as sex is. I have chosen
this subject as I believe this particular identity in education has had an impact on my
personal attitudes and motivations towards education. I am also interested in finding
research to do with this subject as there are many different views on why there is an ever
increasing gender attainment gap and I would like to try to identify some of the reasons
behind it throughout my essay.
According to recent statistics girls outperform boys in almost all aspects of education and
have for the last few decades. (Department for education, 2010) One of the many reasons
for this could be because of the considerable improvements in the educational choices for
women. As girls no longer aspire to be housewives or depend on their husbands they can
now concentrate on higher levels of education and employment prospects. This can be
shown in Sue sharp’s study where she compared working class girl’s attitudes towards
education in the 1970’s to the 90s. She found that in the 1990’s girls seemed to be more
ambitious and committed to equal opportunities in gender. This was compared to the girls
1|Page
, of the 70’s priorities being marriage, love and family life. With the rise in educational
importance and gender equality from the 70’s to 90’s came the change in attitude of the
girls who were now aimed to have jobs and careers so they could support themselves. Sharp
found in her later study that girls were not as bothered by marriage and were more
concerned with standing on their own two feet, seeing education as the best route to
financial independence. (Sue Sharpe 1994).
A perspective that would disagree against this could be that essentialists as they argue that
gender is pre-set when a person is born, meaning that the sex they’re born as determines
their gender and roles in society. A female is born to be a care giver and home maker where
as a male is born to earn money to support his family. An essentialist would believe that
women do not need an education for the roles they are meant to give in society. If more
women worked towards marriage and maintaining family life then they would not
outperform boys as they wouldn’t go onto higher education due to it being unnecessary for
them. They may suggest that if women stop being told they need to achieve then they
would conform to their gender roles and be happy in doing so as that’s what they are
biologically pre-programmed to do. However this view can be seen as sexist and arguments
say it doesn’t take into account the environmental influences that are constantly changing
the roles of gender in our society.
The idea that identity characteristics such as gender are socially constructed argues against
essentialism. Steph Lawler (2008) suggests that it is the environment that contributes
mainly towards what is seen as a normal boy or girl and therefore a person’s surroundings
extenuates their gender specific roles. For example the media tells us what masculinity and
femininity is and people strive to live up to this. This can be seen from as early as preschool
where girls uniforms include skirts whereas boys have to wear trousers. If a boy was to wear
a skirt to school it would be seen as wrong and they could even get in trouble, even though
the fact a girl wears a skirt is socially constructed and has no link to a person’s biological sex.
This construct is seen as acceptable and is linked to the history of cultural norms which is
amplified throughout all institutions around people in society.
During the early 1900s women’s battles for equal opportunities in education and work were
finally starting to be recognised. Before this there was no real incentive for women to get an
education, and the reversal in gender attainment only started to occur during educations
cultural rise in value which happened to coincide with society’s changing attitudes towards
gender stereotypes. Previously women were seen as the caregiver of the family so didn’t
need an education where as men needed to have basic skills to get jobs and earn money as
the main breadwinner. However changes in the norms of society throughout the years, for
example developments of the nuclear family where women and men starting joining
conjugal roles, meant that women were able to start getting higher and higher levels of
education. Although even coming into the late 1980’s underachievement by girls was
2|Page
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller xxtaylaxx. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
67474 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now