Feminism

What is Feminism? Feminist believe that the main conflict within society is not between social classes but between genders (men and women). They believe that men have exploited women for a long time and that society has evolved around patriarchy, meaning men run society in their own interests and are considered superior to females.

Types of Feminists and their view on education: Liberal feminists: Changes in education and equal opportunities policies are needed in order to get rid of patriarchy, the introduction of the National Curriculum achieves as both sexes study the same subjects in school Marxist feminists: The role of women in society is decided by the needs of the economy. They see the capitalist system at fault for the socialization of women to supporting men in the home and in the workplace. Education reinforces these ideas. Black Feminists: Argue that being female and black is different from being female and white. This is shown by how teachers teach both ethnicities different. Radical feminists: Argue that the only way to see an end to patriarchy is when women are freed from the negative (and aggressive) influence of men over women . Post-feminists: Argue that the word 'woman' does not have only one meaning but several. A woman can be black, white, lesbian, working-class or middle class. This is the postmodern idea that there is not one single theory or concept that explains everything.

Main Overview of Feminism and Education Reasons for this change include: Feminism Changing attitudes of girls Crisis of masculinity Feminised education Changes in GCSEs - coursework favours girls Until the 1980s - education was sexist. Girls were disadvantaged through the curriculum and sexist attitudes of teachers. Males are advantaged with subject choices and so get higher paid jobs. A ‘genderquake’ has shaken gender roles and girls are now out performing boys in all areas, yet boys are still dominating science.

Theorists Lobban (1974) and Best (1992) Sharpe (1976 + 1994) Studied gender bias in reading schemes for children and found evidence of sexism. This supports Feminist views of hidden curriculum teaching patriarchy. Also, it supports the idea that ruling-class ideology is taught through the hidden curriculum. Sharpe (1976 + 1994) Longitudinal study of girls’ attitudes to education. Found girls in 70s prioritised marriage and children and in 1994 this had changed to career orientation. Supports that rise of Feminism has lead to improvements in girls performance over boys.

Arnot Claimed girls take greater responsibility for their own failure whereas boys are over-confident. Also, girls revise more and go out less, perhaps due to greater parental control. Theorists Wilkinson Supported the ‘genderquake’, where girls moved to equality. Warrington and Younger They noted that the success of girls should be cause for celebration but the large leadership of government is still concerned. Also the success of girls and education did not translate an equality of outcome in the workplace as there’s still a 20% pay gap. Faludi and Bly Supported the crisis of masculinity as it caused male underachievement.

Criticisms of feminisms Feminists ignore the difference in class and ethnicity. Middle class boys are still doing better than working class girls. Some ethnic groups, for example black boys are more disadvantaged. Boys are not underachieving, they’re improving just not as fast as girls. Girls may be doing better in education but they are still not catching up in the job market.