Learning and Gender Week 2, lesson 2 – Subject choice differences and gender role socialisation

Learning objectives: To explore patterns of subject choice To assess the impact of gender role socialisation on subject choice

Subject choice differences There is still a strong pattern of ‘male’ and ‘female’ subject choices at Further and Higher Education levels. Females are more likely to take arts and languages and males more likely to take scientific subjects like maths and physics. This stereotyping may be due to: 1.Socialisation in early childhood (through toys and activities) 2.Teacher advice on subject choice 3.Continuing perception that the sciences are ‘masculine’ subjects.

Toys and gender Toy ads and gender

National Curriculum Most subjects are compulsory for both boys and girls so there is little freedom of choice up to 16 years of age. Where there is choice, e.g. in Design and Technology, girls tend to choose Food Tech and boys choose graphics and resistant materials. At A level there are big gender differences. The Institute of Physics (2012) found that the proportion of A level Physics students who are girls has been “stubbornly consistent” at 20% for over 20 years.

Gender Role Socialisation This is the process of learning the behaviour expected of males and females in society. Fiona Norman (1988) – from an early age children are dressed differently, given different toys and encouraged to take part in different activities. Eileen Byrne (1979) - Schools play a part – boys encouraged to be tough and show initiative, and girls to be quiet, clean, tidy and helpful.

Patricia Murphy and Janette Elwood (1998) – their different tastes in reading and books lead children to different subject choices: boys read non-fiction and information texts and girls are more likely to read stories about people…possibly a reason why boys choose science subjects and girls prefer English.

Gender domains Gender domains – Naima Browne and Carol Ross (1991) argue that children’s beliefs about gender domains are shaped by their own experiences. Gender domains are the tasks that are seen as in male or female territory e.g. fixing the car is in the male domain and looking after a sick child is in the female domain. Children are more confident in tasks that are in their own gender domain e.g. when set a maths task, girls are more confident if it set in the context of food and nutrition, and boys when it is about cars. Boys and girls have different focuses e.g. girls focus on how people feel and boys on how things work or are made.

Gendered subject images Why are some subjects seen as boys’ or girls’ subjects? Alison Kelly argues that science is seen as a boys subject because: 1.Science teachers are more likely to be men. 2.Examples used in teaching and books often appeal more to boys. 3.Boys dominate in class, especially when carrying out experiments, monopolising the equipment and the laboratory. Anne Colley (1998) argues that IT is seen as masculine because: 1.It involves working with machines – male gender domain 2.Task are abstract and few opportunities for group work – puts girls off.

Single sex schools Pupils who go to single-sex schools hold less stereotypical subject images and make less traditional subject choices. Diana Leonard (2006) found that (compared to pupils in mixed schools) girls in girls’ schools were more likely to take maths and science A levels, and boys in boys’ schools were more likely to take English and languages. Girls from single sex schools were also more likely to study male- dominated subjects at university. Discussion – why, in single-sex schools, are girls more likely to choose science and boys to choose languages?

Peer pressure Can be a big influence on subject choice. Boys tend not to choose drama and dance because these subjects fall outside their gender domain and so often attract negative reactions from peers. By contrast, sort is seen as in the male gender domain, so girls who choose sport often have to cope with having an image that goes against conventional female stereotype. In a study of American college students, Alison Dewar (1990) found that male students called girls ‘lesbian’ or ‘butch’ if they took sport. The same is true of science subjects. This may explain why the absence of peer pressure from the opposite sex allows girls in single sex schools to choose traditional boys’ subjects.

Gendered career opportunities Employment is highly gendered – jobs are often sex-typed as ‘men’s’ or ‘women’s’. Over half of all women’s employment falls within four categories: clerical, secretarial, personal services and cleaning. This affects boys’ and girls’ views about what jobs are possible. If a boy thinks that nursery nurses are female, he is less likely to choose childcare as an option subject. This explains why vocational subjects are more gender-specific, as the courses are closely linked to career paths.

Gender, vocational choice and social class Working class pupils are more likely to make decisions about vocational courses based on a traditional sense of gender identity. Carol Fuller (2011) - most of the working class girls in the study wanted to go into jobs such as child care or hair and beauty. This reflected their ‘habitus’ or sense of what ‘people like us’ do for a living. These may have been encouraged by schools in the work experience placements offered.

Homework Find out: What is the Hidden Curriculum?