Education

Smarter or quicker?

 

According to Haralambos and Holborn (2013) females have been outperforming males for over 12 years within education. From the year 1990 to 2012 there is an evident difference between genders in gaining GCSE’s graded A*-C in England as is shown in the table below.

 

Male and female students attaining five or more GCSE grades A*-C, England, 1990-2012. Haralambos, M. and Holborn, M. (2013) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. Hammersmith: HarperCollins Publishers Limited. Pg 707. Table 10.8

Year	Males	Females	Gender difference
1990	30.8	38.4	7.6
1994	39.1	47.8	8.7
1998	41.3	51.5	10.2
2002	46.4	57	10.6
2004	48.4	58.4	10
2006	52.6	62.2	9.6
2007/8	60.1	69.3	9.2
2009/10	71.9	79.5	7.6
2010/11	77	84	7
2012	65.4	73.3	7.9

 

 

What causes this gender gap?

The feminist movement has had a major effect on females throughout society, with more women being encouraged to reach higher than what would have been expected of them 50 years ago. The pressure that may have once been set upon boys to achieve in order to gain wealth and provide for the family has significantly shifted to both men and women. In today’s society it is much more accepting for a women to be the breadwinner of the household rather than being a housewife. This means females are encouraged more into academic subjects within schools. Sue Sharpe (1976) performed as study which showed that during the 1970’s ‘love, marriage, husbands and children’ were the main priorities of working class school girls. By the 1990’s these priorities had changed significantly to ‘job, career and being able to support themselves’ in Sharpe’s repeated study (Haralambos, M & Holborn, M [2013] pg710). This meant that rather than seeing education as a method of learning the basic academic skills to become a house wife, girls were seeing education as their stepping stone to gaining a desired and well paid career.

Giddens (1993) suggest that due to teaching being a female dominated sector that teachers may favour female students, giving them an advantage over male students. Giddens (2000) also explains that the modern school curriculum now offers no distinction between of sex based classes. So with both sexes no longer having to commit to these gender based classes, such as sewing for girls and rough sports for boys, there is a compulsory set of classes that all should take giving each student an equal opportunity to succeed in which ever subjects they wished to apply themselves to.

Although it seems that women are achieving higher than boys this doesn’t necessarily mean that boys are under achieving? According to Haralambos and Holborn (2013) it is not the level of achievement that is changing but the more so the rate at which they are achieving. This means that females have increased their rate of achievement significantly faster than boys.

 

 

References

 

Giddens, A (1993) Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press. Pg443-444.

 

Haralambos, M. and Holborn, M. (2013) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. Hammersmith: HarperCollins Publishers Limited.

Masculinity

Lads.

McBride, H. (2013) Keep Calm. [online] Available:
http://nursingclio.org/2013/06/12/the-consequences-of-lad
-culture-drinking-football-and-fking/ [Accessed 25th February 2015].

Recently I keep hearing men use the phrase “what a lad” to describe other men. Upon further enquiry as to what this means I got the response “oh, you know, he just does some stuff that only a real lad would do”. So what is it that ‘real lads’ do and what does it mean to be a ‘lad’. The oxford English dictionary defines the term lad as ‘a boy or young man’ pg. 796. So what are the actions that define a young male as being a ‘real lad’?

The only answer I could find was the level of masculinity. The oxford thesaurus uses ‘robust, vigorous, muscular, strapping, rugged [and] macho’ as synonyms for masculine pg. 613. Masculinity is constantly shrouded by these stereotypes which we just can’t seem to get rid of. It appears that these stereotypes are enforced daily through our society causing pressure on males everywhere.

Imgarcade (n.d.) Macho man logo. [online] Available:http://
imgarcade.com/1/macho-man-logo/ [Accessed 25th February 2015].

 Alison Phipps and Isobel Young (2013) have been conducting research into ‘lad culture’ since 2013 and argue that this type of hegemonic masculinity is ever present within young males within universities. Imelda Whelehan (2000) believes that male aimed magazines, such as FHM, Loaded and Maxim, promote this ‘laddish’ behaviour where women are seen as sex objects and ‘changes in gender roles can be dismissed with an ironic joke’ (Gauntlett, D. [2008] pg 164). Social media is a major influence in today’s culture, especially with the younger generation, using websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. What’s disconcerting about these websites is the influence they have over the people that use them and the groups or followings they create. With poor regulation of content on these sites people are pretty much free to say what they want. A lot of these groups such as ‘dapper laughs’ advocate what has become known as ‘lad culture’, which is essentially hegemonic masculinity (the dominant male). Dapper laughs (otherwise known as Daniel O’Neill) who is a self-proclaimed ‘proper lad’ has recently gained his own TV show leading from his internet fame, which was short lived as it was axed after its first series due to comments such as “remember, it’s only sexual harassment if she’s more attractive than you” being broadcasted (Meredith, C [2014]). For people who use the internet daily, being exposed to hegemonic masculinity is just a regular occurrence and some people even ‘follow’ it and re-enact it. I always followed the belief that masculinity (and femininity) were social constructs that have become their own self-fulfilling prophecies, but maybe it just takes one person armed with a camera phone and a lack of respect to define what has become masculinity for young males in today’s society.

 

Reference list

(2003) The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. McGraw-Hill.

(2008) The Oxford Thesaurus. Oxford: Oxford University Press. McGraw-Hill.

Gauntlett, D (2008) Media, Gender and Identity – An introduction. Abingdon: Routledge. Pg164.

Imgarcade (n.d.) Macho man logo. [online] Available:http://imgarcade.com/1/macho-man-logo/ [Accessed 25th February 2015].

Meredith, C (2014) Dapper Laughs Defended By Heartbroken Fans And Furious Anti-Censorship Campaigners. The Huffington Post Online. Available from:http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11/11/dapper-laughs-defended-itv_n_6137948.html [Last accessed 25th February 2015].

McBride, H. (2013) Keep Calm. [online] Available: http://nursingclio.org/2013/06/12/the-consequences-of-lad-culture-drinking-football-and-fking/ [Accessed 25th February 2015].

Phipps, A. and Young, I. (2013) The Report Is Out! Lad Culture Research. Available from: https://ladcultureresearch.wordpress.com/ [last accessed 25^th February 2015].

Whelehan, I (2000) Overloaded: Popular Culture and the Future of Feminism. London: Women’s Press.


 

Catcalling IS harassment!

 

 

"Equality will always feel uncomfortable for those who once benefited from inequality." - Michael S. Kimmel, The Gendered Society.




I feel this quote rings true. I wish to pursue a career within psychology. Equality and positions of advantage/disadvantage is something I would like to study further in regards to our behaviour when we feel we are in these positions.




Unknown (2014) Available from: http://twoheadedgorilla.tumblr.com/post/81477047561/equality-will-always-feel-uncomfortable-for-those [Accessed 10th February 2015].

Strange but interesting findings.

Here are a couple of things that anybody interested in this blog might enjoy looking at which have kept me amused whilst researching for my other posts.

This is a blog that I found quiet amusing. It has a weekly input of called 'The Week in Sexist News', which takes a stab at stories that have been written across the UK.
http://mytightswontstayup.com/


This is a website I have previously mentioned and used in my peer teaching presentation. It's definitely worth taking a look as some of the answers might surprise you.
http://bechdeltest.com/


This is a website showing the art of Jacky Fleming. With some political and feminist humour in her work it's sure to give you a giggle whilst roaming through.
http://www.jackyfleming.co.uk/