How Well Aware Are You About Feminist Movement Flashcards

Feminism is a social movement that strives for equality in all areas of life. Since the 1960's the feminist movement has challenged the traditional stereotype of a woman as portraying the expressive role.
Although feminists argue that we have not yet achieved full equality between sexes the feminist movement has had considerable success in improving women's rights.
McRobbie drew a comparison between two magazines. "Jackie" from the 1970's emphasized the importance of getting married and not being left in the shelf. Nowadays they contain images of assertive, independent women.

There have been major changes in the family since 1970. These include.
-an increase in divorce rate.
-an increase in cohabitation and a decrease in the number of first marriages.
-an increase in the number of lone parent families (mainly female headed).
-smaller families.
Theses changes are affecting girls'attitudes towards education in a number of ways. For example increased number of female headed lone parent families many mean more women need to take on a breadwinner role. This in turn creates a new adult role model for girls- the financially independent woman. To achieve this independence women need well-paid jobs and therefore good qualifications.
Likewise increases in the divorce rate may suggest to girls it is unwise to rely on a husband to be the provider.

-The 1970 Equal Pay Act make it illegal to pay women less than men for the same job. The 1975 Sex Discrimination Act outlaws sex discrimination in employment.
-The proportion of women in employment has risen from 47% to 70% in 2003.
-Since 1975 the pay gap has fallen from 30% to 18%.
-Some women are now breaking the "glass ceiling"- an invisible barrier that keeps them out if high level professional managerial jobs.
These changes are likely to encourage girls to see their future in terms of paid work rather than as full time housewives.

Sharpe carried out an interview with two groups of girls; in 1974 the girls Sharpe interviewed had low aspirations and their priorities were "love, marriage, husbands, children, job and careers".
By the 1990's girls' ambitions had changed to "jobs, careers" Girls are now more likely to see their future as an independent woman with a career rather than as dependent of their husband and his income.

Policies sucha s GIST and WISE aim to encourage women into science.
The introduction of the National Curriculum in 1988 removed the one source of gender inequality by making girls and boys study mostly the same things.
Kelly argues that making science part of the compulsory curriculum helps to equalise opportunities.

Women teachers are likely to be particularly important role models as far as girls' educational achievement is concerned since to become a teacher the individual must have a lengthy and successful education herself. It could be argued that primary schools have become "feminised" with virtually all female staff.

The introduction of GCSE brought with it coursework as a new form of assessment. Murphy & Elwood argue that this change benefits girls more than boys because of coursework rewards girls' aptitude for organisation and sustained application. Mitsos & Browne support this view, They conclude that girls are better suitedfor coursework because they:
-spend more time on their work.
-take care with the way it's presented.
-are better at meeting deadlines.
-bring the right equipment and materials to lessons.
Along with the introduction of GCSE oral exams have become more used, this benefits girls because they have generally more developed language skills.

Some sociologists argue that the removal of gender stereotypes from textbooks and reading schemes have removed a barrierto girls' achievement. Research in the 1980's found that it portrayed women as housewives and mothers and as frightened or amazed by science.
Weiner argues that since the 1980's teachers have challenged such stereotypes. Also in general sexist images have been removedfrom learning materials.

Spender found that teachers spend more time interacting with boys than with girls. However French analysed classroom interaction and found that the amount of academic attention boys and girls received was similar. Boys only received more attention because they attracted more reprimands.
Swann & Graddol found that boys are generally more boisterous and attract the teacher's gaze more.
However they found that the way they interacted with girls was more positive because it focused on school work rather than on behaviour.
Swann found gender differences in communication styles.
Boys dominate whole class discussions whereas girls prefer pair work and are better listening and more cooperative.
This may explain why teachers respond more positively to girls whom they see as more coopearive than boys. This may lead to a self fulfilling prophecy.

Marketisation has created a more competitive climate in which schools see girls as desirable recruits because they achieve better exam results.
Jackson nothes that the introduction of exam league tables which place high value on academic achievement has improved opportunities for girls; high achieving girls are more attractive to schools whereas low achieving boys are not. This tends to create a self fulfilling prophecy because girls are more likely to be recruited by schools with a good academic record.
Slee argues that boys are less attractive to schools because they are more likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties and are four times more likely to be excluded. As a result they may be seen as "liability students", obstacles for the school. They give the school a "rough, tough" image.

Liberal feminists: they celebrate the progress being made and believe further progress will be made.
Radical feminists: recognise that girls are achieving more but emohasize the system remains patriarchal and conveys a clear message that it's a man's world.
E.g.:
-sexual harassment of girls continues at school
-education still limits their subject choices and career options.
-women are under represented in many areas of the curriculum.

Several reasons for boys' underachievemnt have been suggested:
- parents spend less time with sons on reading; women do most of the reading when they are young who come to see it as feminine.
- some boys see education as feminine.
- boys may have behavioural problems.
Epstein found that working class boys are likely to be harassed, labelled as "sissies" and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse.
This is because in working class culture masculinity is equated with being tough and doing manual work.
Epstein's findings are similar to those of Willis & Mac an Ghaill.
However there are important class and ethnic differences within each gender.
This is because pupils define their gender differently according to their class and ethnicity. Fuller shows that many black girls are successfull at school because they define their femininity in terms of educational achievement and independence.
This shows we need to take the interplay of class, gender and ethnicity into account.

Stables & Wikeley found that where there is a choice in National Curriculum girls and boys chose differently.
At A levels there were big differences more boys did maths and more girls choosing english and social sciences.

Byrne found that teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative and not be weak. Girls on the other hand are expected to be quiet, helpful, clean and tidy not rough or noisy.
As a result of differences in socialisation, boys and girls develop different tastes in reading. Murphy & Elwood show how these lead to different subject choices. Boys read hobby books and information texts while girls are more likely to read stories about people.

Kelly argues that science is a boys' subject because:
-science teachers are more likely to be men.
-the examples teachers use and those found in text books.
-it involves working with machines, part of the male gender domain.
-it's taught in an off putting way for females, tasks tend to be abstract and teaching styles formal.