Basis External factors regarding gender
and achievement
● Girls achieve better than
boys in education. This includes:
Boys gradually narrow - The impact of feminism
the gap in further/
higher education. - Changes in the family
● Sociologists mostly
think it’s due to a - Changes in women’s employment
mix of internal
and external - Girls changing ambitions
factors. Impact of
Feminism
Wider image of feminism has
vastly changed the attitudes
surrounding women’s roles in
society.
- McRobbie
She looked at girls magazines, comparing the images of
women on them from the 1970s compared with the 1990s.
Education - She found that there has been a shift from marriage and
Gender and childbearing, now focusing on independence and assertion.
Achievement
(External Changes in the family
Factors)
In the past 40 years (approximately), changes have taken place.
This includes:
- Increase in Divorce Rate - Decrease in Marriages
- Increase in Cohabitation - Decrease in Family Size
Links to - Increase in lone-parent families
social class
Changes in
women’s - How does this all link with
Some working-class girls Girls educational achievement?
continue to have employment
changing
gender-stereotyped
aspirations for marriage
ambitions - 1970 Equal A higher divorce rate may suggest that girls
Pay Act realise that it is unwise to rely solely on a
and children.
Made it illegal to pay husband to be their provider.
women less than men for
- O’Connor (2006) work of equal value. An increase in the number of lone-parent
- Biggart (2002)
Study made found that in women in society creates greater
Also found that working-class girls are
students between the ages - 1975 Sex achievement for girls, due to a need for
less likely to succeed in the labour
of 14-17, marriage and Discrimination Act potentially taking on a breadwinner role and
market, and so they see motherhood as
children were not a major They outlawed discrimination at becoming a financially independent woman.
the only viable option for their futures.
part of their life plans. work.
and achievement
● Girls achieve better than
boys in education. This includes:
Boys gradually narrow - The impact of feminism
the gap in further/
higher education. - Changes in the family
● Sociologists mostly
think it’s due to a - Changes in women’s employment
mix of internal
and external - Girls changing ambitions
factors. Impact of
Feminism
Wider image of feminism has
vastly changed the attitudes
surrounding women’s roles in
society.
- McRobbie
She looked at girls magazines, comparing the images of
women on them from the 1970s compared with the 1990s.
Education - She found that there has been a shift from marriage and
Gender and childbearing, now focusing on independence and assertion.
Achievement
(External Changes in the family
Factors)
In the past 40 years (approximately), changes have taken place.
This includes:
- Increase in Divorce Rate - Decrease in Marriages
- Increase in Cohabitation - Decrease in Family Size
Links to - Increase in lone-parent families
social class
Changes in
women’s - How does this all link with
Some working-class girls Girls educational achievement?
continue to have employment
changing
gender-stereotyped
aspirations for marriage
ambitions - 1970 Equal A higher divorce rate may suggest that girls
Pay Act realise that it is unwise to rely solely on a
and children.
Made it illegal to pay husband to be their provider.
women less than men for
- O’Connor (2006) work of equal value. An increase in the number of lone-parent
- Biggart (2002)
Study made found that in women in society creates greater
Also found that working-class girls are
students between the ages - 1975 Sex achievement for girls, due to a need for
less likely to succeed in the labour
of 14-17, marriage and Discrimination Act potentially taking on a breadwinner role and
market, and so they see motherhood as
children were not a major They outlawed discrimination at becoming a financially independent woman.
the only viable option for their futures.
part of their life plans. work.
