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Gender identity and subject choice
Gender and subject choice
• In previous lessons we have looked at gender
differences in education.
• This lesson is to revise and review the idea that girls still
tend to pick traditionally ‘female’ subjects and boys still
tend to pick traditionally ‘male’ subjects.
• This lesson will also look at how gender identities are
reinforced in school in various ways.
• So why does it matter?
• Some sociologists would argue that certain subjects
have a higher status than other subjects.
• Feminists in particular would argue that the ‘female’
subjects that girls still tend to choose, lead to jobs which
have a low status and often low pay as well.
Subject choice
• The National Curriculum introduced the idea that many subjects
were to be made compulsory. However, where there is some choice
either pre or post 16, girls and boys tend to follow different paths in
terms of the subjects they choose.
• National curriculum options – Stables and Wikeley (1996) found that
when there is a choice, girls opt for food technology, whereas boys
tend to choose graphics and resistant materials.
• As and A Levels – There tends to be a big differences between
subject choice at this stage. Boys opt for maths and physics
whereas girls opt for literature, languages and the social sciences
(3/4 or more of A Level Sociology students tend to be girls) These
differences are also reflected at degree level.
• Vocational courses – Vocational courses prepare students for
particular careers. There appears to be a big separation, most
hairdressing courses are chosen by girls and most construction
courses are chosen by boys.
Reasons for differences in subject choice
So why do males and females tend to choose different
subjects? We will now have a look at possible reasons.
• Innate ability (ability you are born with)
• Peer pressure (pressure to do certain things from your
peer group)
• Primary socialisation ( Learning of norms and values in
the home)
• Hidden curriculum (informal things you learn in school)
• Gendered career opportunities ( work is quite gendered,
‘mans’ work and ‘woman’s’ work.
Reasons
Innate Ability –
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It has been argued that there are subject choice differences between the
sexes because of natural differences. Boys are supposed to have better
‘visual-spatial’ ability (attracting them to sports, technology etc), Girls are
supposed to have better ‘verbal’ ability (attracting them to language based
subjects).
Criticism – Sociologists don’t believe these differences are natural, but due
to nurture processes like socialisation.
Peer Pressure –
 Subject choice can be influenced by your peer group (people you hang
around with). Other people may put pressure on you as to what subject to
take. For example boys tend to opt out of subjects like dance for fear of
ridicule.
 Carrie Paetcher (1998) – found that sport was seen as part of the male
gender domain, so girls who participate in it have to cope with the
assumption that it is a male subject. This will lead some girls to opt out of it.
Reasons continued…
Primary socialisation
 Sociologists often point to the differences in the ways boys and girls are
socialised. They are treated differently, engage in different activities and
wear different clothes. This will influence their later attitudes towards subject
choice.
 Murphy and Elwood(1998) showed how boys and girls have different tastes
in reading. Boys tend to choose factual books, whereas girls tend to choose
fiction. This may explain why boys tend to pick science subjects and girls
are more attracted to English.
 Browne and Ross (1991) argue that children’s beliefs about ‘gender
domains’ ( the tasks and activities that boys and girls see as male or female
territory, thus being relevant to them) are shaped by their early experiences.
Reasons continued…
Hidden curriculum
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These are the informal things you learn in school. This can include textbook
images, how the school is organised, teachers attitudes and some of the
interactions in classrooms.
Lobban (1976) – She looked at reading schemes and out of 225 stories she
found that only 2 showed women in roles other than domestic tasks.
Kelly (1980) – Looked at science textbooks and found they concentrated on
images of male scientists, at the expense of females.
These studies could explain why girls don’t tend to pick certain subjects.
Gendered career opportunities
 Work is highly gendered. Jobs tend to be ‘men’s’ work or ‘women’s’ work.
Women tend to be concentrated in a narrow range of occupations, whereas men
are concentrated in a wider range of occupations.
 This affects girls and boys ideas about what kind of job they will be able to get
and which ones are acceptable. Thus influencing their subject choice. For
example if boys get the message that nursery nurses are women, than they may
opt out of taking childcare.