Education and Gender

1
Education and Gender

• How can we explain differential achievement
  between boys and girls?
• By Rhiannon Holder and Phillip Sage

2
Evidence of differential achievement

• In 2000 53 of girls achieved 5 GCSEs grade A-C
  compared with only 43 of boys!
• Women are now the majority of undergraduates in
  British universities, comprising of 53. In 2000
  more first class-honours degrees were achieved by
  women than men for the first time!

3
BUT WHY?

• Genetic difference?
• Home and family?
• Wider social factors?
• What happens in school?

4
Genetic Difference

• Differences in brain structure show that girls do
  better in verbal tests and boys on spatial ones
• Scruton (New right) argued that the biological
  differences determine a particular sexual
  division of labour and that these arrangements
  are a natural necessity
• However much of the data is exaggerated and is
  not sufficient in accounting for the deferential
  achievement

5
Home and Family

• Socialisation into gender roles begins very early
  in childhood and children arrive in school
  already aware of gender differences.
• Women, especially working class women, sought to
  devote themselves as housewives, which resulted
  in the curriculum reflecting this.
• Statistics have shown that policies for
  gender-differentiated education continue to be
  reflected in the sexual distribution of
  attainment.

6
Wider Social Factors

• Improved achievement of girls is undoubtedly
  linked to the changing social attitudes towards
  women.
• There are now many more female role models of
  successful women
• There are now more job opportunities for women
  and less for men

7
What happens in school

• With the introduction of the nation curriculum,
  girls were able to access all subjects.
• The introduction of coursework and many policies
  introduced favoured girls
• Mixed schools often split sports lessons and
  seating plans based on gender
• Some teachers have been accused of labelling boys
  negatively and therefore create a self-fulfilling
  prophecy

8
HOWEVER . . . The gender gap is not as simple
as boys doing badly, girls doing well.

• THE GENDER GAP IS
• not the same in all subjects
• not the same in all levels of education
• only concerned with academic achievement
• affected by social class and ethnicity!

9
Which do you think is the most effective
explanation of the gender gap