How can we explain the gender gap in educational achievement? How can explain the differences between female and male subject choices at GCSE, A level and beyond? Why do more boys study computing and more girls study Drama? Why are females achieving higher grades than males at every level of education?

Biological difference between men and women Reproductive function of men and women Socially or culturally constructed How a society defines masculinity and femininity

National Curriculum 1988 Made many subjects compulsory to 16. Increased opportunities for girls in subjects such as Science. Stables and Wilkeley 1996 Where there was a choice of subjects girls and boys choose differently.

Students have greater freedom and gendered subject choices become much more noticeable.

These figures are from the 2007 examinations entries data. More girls choose Sociology making it more female dominated than English, Drama, French and Biology. These gender differences continue at university level showing a clear gender preference for certain subjects.

Fiona Norman 1988 From an early age girls and boys are dressed differently, given different toys and are encouraged to take part in different activities. Parents tend to reward boys for being active and girls for being passive. Murphy and Elwood 1998 This can lead to different subject choices – boys reading non-fiction and girls reading fiction – this helps to explain why girls prefer english and boys prefer science.

Brown and Ross 1991 Children are shapes by their early experiences. What children see as male or female territory will influence how they respond to an activity. Children are more confident when performing tasks within their gender domain. Given the same activity it could be interpreted differently by girls and boys.

Asked children of both sexes to design a boat.

Some subjects project a male or female image. Kelly Science seen as a boys subject Science teachers are more likely to be men Examples found in text books draw more from male interests and experiences In science lessons boys tend to dominate apparatus Colley 1998 Computer Studies seen as male because: Involves working with machines which is part of the male gender domain Girls find the tasks and teaching styles off-putting Leonard 2006 These stereotypes are seen less in single sex schools where they see girls making less traditional choices in subjects, girls more likely to study male-dominated subjects, attend university and earn higher salaries!

Friendship groups or other males or females may apply pressure to an individual if they disapprove of their choice. Paetcher 1998 Pupils see sport as within the male domain, girls who are interested in sport have to cope with an image that contradicts conventional female stereotypes. Dewar 1990 Male students branding a girl as “lesbian” or “butch” if she was more interested in sport than the boys. But…..in single sex schools girls are more likely to choose traditional boys’ subjects – the absence of boys means that there is less pressure to conform to restrictive stereotypes of what a girl can or can not study.

Employment highly gendered Female jobs are seen as those that link to the duties that a woman would traditionally perform within the home. Over half of all female employment falls into these categories….clerical, secretarial, caring and cleaning. Only a sixth of all males work in these areas. This gendered approach leads to different subject choices as boys get the message that a role as a nursery nurse in unacceptable then this will affect their subject choices. Vocational courses are more highly gendered than any other area of education – childcare, engineering, beauty therapy all being key examples.