Gender Differences in Educational Achievement: External Factors
The Impact of Feminism (McRobbie)
Changes in the family
Changes in women’s employment
Changing perceptions and ambitions (Sharpe)
Girls outperform boys averagely at every academic stage (Starting School, Key Stage 1-3, GCSE, AS &
A Level, Vocational Courses).
Why girls do better? Closer to the ideal pupil due to being quieter, more role models: more female
teachers within the schools.
In a conclusion, bring about ethnicity, gender and class – neither is the primary reason for
underachievement they can all result in underachievement. (Therefore do not exclusively blame on
the factor you are talking about in your essay, briefly talk about other factors).
(2013): Teacher assessments of pupils at the age of year 1 showed girls ahead of boys by between 7-
17% in all 7 areas of learning assessed – it was found girls were also better than boys at
concentrating.
A DFE (2013) study found that in state primary schools boys were 2 and a half times more likely than
girls to have statements of SEN.
At GCSE the gender gap stands at around 10%.
A-Level, girls are more likely to sit, pass and get higher grades than boys. In 2020, 69% of girls gained
A* or B grades, yet only 62% of boys. Even in the moreso ‘boy’ subjects, such as STEM subjects, girls
achieved higher rates of A-C than boys.
On vocational course, girls have a higher proportion achieving distinctions.
Impact of Feminism
Since second-wave feminism in the 1960s, women’s role within the household has shifted, their
status has seen the changing expectations within society. They are no-longer confined to a domestic,
‘expressive’ (Parsons) or nurturing role, they can seek careers. Leading to a steady rise in educational
achievement.
McRobbie (1994) – looked at the front cover of magazines in the 1970s/1990s, looked at what was
happening in the media and how it was helping change and form ambitions for girls.
She found that girls magazines in the 1970s emphasised the importance of getting married and not
being “left on the shelf”, nowadays, they contain images of assertive, independent women.
Recent newspapers, female empowerment, at impressionable ages providing role models and
creating a notion that females can achieve equally the same as men.
On Instagram, #thisgirlcan, women in sports, trying to get women into male dominated sports, had
over 2.3 million posts, showing support for women from a grass roots level.
Since the 1960s, the feminist movement has challenged the traditional stereotype of a woman’s role
of just being a mother and a housewife.
