Exam (elaborations)
How does gender affect education ?
What affect does gender have on the education of pupils in the UK.
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Applying material from Item B and your knowledge, evaluate the view that genderdifferences in both subject choices and educational achievement are mainly the result of the
influence of wider society (30)
Until the 1980s girls were underachieving academically compared to boys however, both
girls and boys have improved on their level of achievement with girls out-performing boys in
school. This is known as the gender quake. Since then, as stated in Item B, “at each stage
from pre-school to university entrance “ girls typically are higher achievers. Furthermore,
according to Item B when choosing A-level choices “there are major gender differences”
depending on the subject. There are many reasons for these differences. Some sociologists
believe external factors are to blame for the difference in educational achievement whereas,
interactionists blame factors within the school system for the difference in educational
achievement and subject choice between boys and girls.
One factor from the wider society that has influenced the difference in educational
achievement between boys and girls is feminism. Feminism has led to girls changing their
ambitions as they have become more career-orientated and therefore, less likely to want to
be a homemaker. Sue Sharpe interviewed girls in 1974 and asked them to order their
priorities. Most of them chose marriage and children as the most important and a job and
career as the least important. Whereas, in the 1990s Sharpe did the same thing however,
the girls prioritised a job and career and chose children and marriage as the least important.
This can be explained by Beck’s Individualisation Theory which explains that independence
is valued more by society than it was in the past. As a result girls are focusing on their
education to ensure they have a successful career and can be self-sufficient in the future.
Furthermore, feminism has improved the rights of women in the workplace because there
have been legislation brought in to reduce the discrimination against women such as the the
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the 1970 Equal Pay Act. This has had a role to play in the
rising educational achievement of girls because they are now seeing themselves working in
a highly-skilled job instead of being a homemaker. This is backed up by a study by Angela
McRobbie who found that magazines in the 1970s had images showing girls ambitions as
being a homemaker and a wife whereas, in the 1990s magazines had images of assertive,
strong, independent and career-oriented women. This had led to girls out-performing
boys.
Furthermore, feminism has also had an impact within the school system as stereotypes in
the curriculum have been challenged. This is noticeable in textbooks and other reading
material as sexist images have been changed to contain more positive images of what
women can do.This has empowered girls and encouraged them to aim higher than a low-
skilled job or to be a homemaker therefore, girls are working harder at school to ensure they
can do the job they want to do.
Since the 1960s many male dominated jobs such as shipbuilding and mining have declined
due to globalisation of the economy. This has led to an identity crisis for men as there are
little job opportunities which undermines their self-esteem and motivation. Therefore, they
do not try as hard in school as they have got no career plan. Furthermore, there is a lack of
male role models at home for boys as the number of lone parent families headed by women
has increased. This has negatively affected boys' education as there is no disciplinarian
father figure for young boys within the household. Moreover, due to the fact that most lone-
parents families are headed by mothers, girls are more likely to have a positive strong
female role model that they can look up to and aspire to be like. Additionally, the divorce
rate has increased therefore, girls are starting to see that they do not need to rely on the
man to be the breadwinner which means they need to be self-reliant so to achieve this girls
rely on their education to get them into University and eventually a good job.
There is a lack of male teachers in the education system especially in primary schools which
could play a role in the educational underachievement of boys. Sewell and other
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