Gender stereotypes and gendered vocational aspirations among Swiss secondary school students

Background: Horizontal gender inequalities appear to be rather stable, with girls more often choosing ‘female’ service professions, and boys choosing career paths related to science, technology, engineering or Mathematics.

Purpose: Non-egalitarian patriarchal gender-role orientations and gender associations (perceived femininity) of the school subjects German Language Arts and Mathematics are theorised – triangulating different theoretical backgrounds – and empirically analysed as a major predictor of gender-typical vocational aspirations, considering interest in these school subjects as a mediating factor. Furthermore, we focus on a patriarchal relation of father’s and mother’s workforce participation as a root of gender-role orientations, and teacher gender in regard to its impact on gendered images of subjects.

Sample: Empirical analyses are based on survey data from eighth-graders (around the ages of 14 and 15 at the time of data gathering) in the Swiss canton of Bern. The sample only encompasses children from two-parent families, as patriarchality in terms of differences in workforce participation between father and mother is taken into account.

Design and methods: The research issues are analysed employing structural equation models. The statistical package Mplus allows for an analysis of the two dependent dichotomous variables ‘gender-typical vocational aspiration’ and ‘gender-atypical vocational aspiration’. The hierarchic structure of the sample (school class clusters) is taken into account.

Results: Findings reveal different patterns for boys and girls; for boys, gender-typical (male) vocational aspiration could be explained to a small extent via gender-role orientations, interest in Mathematics and gender associations of school subjects; for girls, the factors under consideration could be empirically linked to ‘atypical vocational aspiration’. Teacher gender only has an impact among girls: if girls are taught by a female Mathematics teacher, they perceive the subject as a bit more female and show a higher interest in this subject. Their likelihood of having a gender-atypical vocational aspiration is a bit higher than among girls with a male Mathematics teacher who perceive the subject as a bit less female and, thus, show somewhat lower interest in this subject.

Conclusions: There are still links – although weak – between gender stereotypes and vocational aspirations. Gender-role orientations are rooted in the family. A sensitisation towards gender stereotypes and their impact on aspirations and career would appear to be meaningful in broadening the vocational perspectives of men and women.     

Girls’ Avoidance of ‘Hard’ Science Subjects—protest or a rational choice?

Abstract

The reasons why girls avoid science subjects were studied by comparing three groups of girls and three groups of boys in the Norwegian secondary school who opted for physics, biology/chemistry and non‐science subjects, respectively. On the basis of documented data on their level of attainment in science subjects, and questionnaire data on confidence in science achievement, attitudes towards the sciences and job priorities, the “hard’ science girls proved to be more confident and laid more stress upon income and leadership than the other groups of girls. No differences between the groups’ attitudes towards science were found. The ‘hard’ science group of girls performed better than the boys in the science subjects and they stressed the importance of income in their future job as much as did the boys. These findings suggest that girls make rational educational choices based on their perception of their own aptitude for science and on their future occupational plans.     

Science teachers’ perceptions of the appeal of science subjects to boys and girls

Science teachers’ perceptions of the type of subject that appeals to 14 year old pupils were investigated using bi‐polar semantic differential rating scales. It was found that science teachers believe that boys and girls prefer significantly different subject characteristics. Teachers’ beliefs about the subject characteristics preferred by boys are closer to the perceived characteristics of school science, as judged on the same semantic differential scales, than is the case for girls. Teachers perceive the characteristics of school science to be much less attractive to girls. A comparison between the responses from groups of science teachers and pupils revealed that teachers believe that boys’ and girls’ preferences for subject characteristics are more dissimilar than they actually are. Girls’ preferences are closer to those of boys and to the characteristics associated with school science than teachers realize.     

The role of popular girls in bullying and intimidating boys and other popular girls in secondary school

Despite a large amount of research focusing on bullying and exclusion in secondary schools, there is far less research focusing on cross‐gender bullying and ‘popular’ students who experience bullying. This research provides an analysis of interactions between male and female students (aged 13–14) in a school in England. The data provides multiple examples, both in the form of observations and group interviews, of girls teasing, intimidating and bullying boys and other popular girls. The analysis also considers teachers’ reactions to this behaviour, highlighting that it is often unnoticed. This paper raises this as an area for concern and suggests that future research should explore this further, both gaining more in‐depth knowledge of female bullying and intimidation of boys and popular girls, and exploring ways of working with teachers and schools to support students.     

‘Man-up,go and get an ice-pack.’ Gendered stereotypes and binaries within the primary classroom: a thing of the past?

Gendered expectations are deeply embedded within the fabric of a society and the classroom is no exception; binaries habitually pervade attitudes, practices and pedagogies. This small-scale qualitative-interpretive study, undertaken in one rural primary school in North Wales, explores how the learning of gender is constructed, enacted and challenged by participants functioning within Key Stage 2 (children aged 8–11 years), issues experienced by, both girls and boys, to cogitate implications for gender equity and for teachers' work. The fieldwork revealed that many school participants continue to draw upon essentialist binary discourse, predominantly based on biological theories, to explain differences between boys and girls relating to classroom behaviour, subject attainment, curricular preferences and career pathways. Constant reference was made to acceptable ways of ‘doing masculinity’ and the ‘high-achieving, conforming school girl culture’. Children recognised gender binaries used by teachers and were aware of societal advances in gender equity. Despite decades of research and policies, we are still some way to ameliorating gender binaries and stereotypes in this phase of schooling. Therefore, there is an urgent need for practitioners to become more reflexively aware about the complex ways in which gendered dualisms and hierarchies perpetuate and dictate relations and pedagogical practices, which constrain experiences and opportunities for girls and boys and, to incorporate multiple ways of thinking and doing gender in classrooms.     

Boys’ and girls’ educational choices in secondary education. The role of gender ideology

This study aims to explain why boys and girls in secondary education choose different educational tracks. We argue that adolescents internalise gender expectations as to what is “appropriate” male and female behaviour in their gender ideology. Gender ideology can affect educational choices by influencing (1) how adolescents evaluate their competence in certain subjects (competence beliefs), (2) what they find important in a future occupation (occupational values) and (3) what school subject they prefer right now (subject preferences). Longitudinal data collected among adolescents at age 15 and 16 (N = 1062) are used. Multinomial path models show that gender ideology shapes boys’ occupational values and subject preferences, whereas for girls it shapes their competence beliefs. Only for boys this leads to gender-stereotypical educational choices, however. Our results support the idea that gender expectations are stricter for boys than for girls and may prevent men from entering more feminine career tracks.     

Engaging the creative arts to meet the needs of twenty-first-century boys

As we navigate through a new form of economic era where science, technology, knowledge and services will replace consumer goods as drivers of growth, and the workplace will increasingly value creative abilities, there appears a need for an educational paradigm shift. However, within an Australian context of increasing school accountability, a great deal of emphasis is placed on standards vis-à-vis improving literacy and numeracy skills for students, and measured by high-stake testing. This current Australian agenda is also part of an ongoing concern for improving the educational outcomes and life chances of boys. Through a social justice lens, this paper offers an exploration of how an innovative and creative arts curriculum has the potential to engage and enhance educational outcomes for all students, particularly for boys who are at risk of underachieving. First, this paper offers an explanation of the changing nature of workplace trajectories and the significance of the creative arts in this shifting economic era. Concurrently, as we prepare students for an unknown future, this paper examines how engagement in the creative arts has the potential to facilitate emerging understandings about learning while providing opportunities to develop learner engagement, motivation, cognitive capacities and academic achievement. Second, while avoiding essentialist accounts of gender and recuperative masculinity politics, we recognise that ‘some’ boys are underachieving in schools and that these boys are often from lower socioeconomic communities. We also recognise that many of these boys are disengaged and invest considerable energy performing masculinities that are in opposition to, and resistant to, the formal processes of schooling including participation in the creative arts. Third, we draw on findings from recent research, including a doctoral study, to discuss perceived barriers to boys' engagement with the creative arts and implications for educational practice.     

Gender Differences in Mathematics Participation: an Australian perspective

Gender differences in many areas of participation in school are receding, but the gap favouring males in mathematics study in senior secondary school persists. This study attempted to identify some of the dimensions underlying gender differences in mathematics participation. The data from a survey of Years 10, 11 and 12 students at four high schools were used to examine the relationships between the gender differences in attitudes towards mathematics and the participation in senior school courses. The findings suggest that the separation of senior school mathematics into academic and non-academic subjects was more efficient for boys than for girls because in the junior years of high school boys develop more positive views of mathematics and of themselves as mathematics learners leading to them more often selecting the university-preferred options. Not all girls were disadvantaged, however. Girls from middle-class backgrounds, particularly those from professional and managerial origins, tended to remain confident and retained their interest in mathematics supporting high enrolment rates in the specialist maths stream at the senior level of high school. The social background offset the effects of gender.     

Teacher–student interaction in contemporary science classrooms: is participation still a question of gender?†

We show that boys still have a greater access to the space for interaction in science classrooms, which is unexpected since in Sweden today girls perform better in these subjects than boys. Results from video-recorded verbal communication, referred to here as interaction, show that the distribution of teacher–student interaction in the final year of lower secondary school follows the same patterns as in the 1980s. The interaction space for all kinds of talk continues to be distributed according to the two-thirds rule for communication in science classrooms as described by previous research. We also show that the overall interaction space in science classrooms has increased for both boys and girls when talk about science alone is considered. Another finding which follows old patterns is that male teachers still address boys more often than girls. This holds true both for general talk and for talk about science. If a more even distribution of teacher–student interaction is desirable, these results once again need to be considered. More research needs to be undertaken before the association between girls’ attitudes and interest in science in terms of future career choice and the opportunity to participate in teacher–student interaction is more clearly understood.     

中学生身体自我概念的调查研究

以中学生为研究对象,以身体自尊量表为测量工具.通过对1 191名中学生的调查,结果表明:中学生在身体自我价值感、运动能力、身体状况、身体吸引力和身体素质等5个指标上男生优于女生,初中生优于高中生.初中男生的身体自我价值感、运动能力和身体状况等3个指标上均优于高中男生;初中女生的运动能力、身体状况和身体吸引力等3个指标上均优于高中女生.随着年龄的增加,中学生在身体自我价值感、运动能力、身体状况、身体吸引力和身体素质等5个指标上呈现高——低——高的趋势,15岁是最低点.     

Gender,science choice and achievement: a Maltese perspective

Drawing on a number of studies, this paper explores gender differentials in the choice of science subjects at secondary school level, factors influencing choice, differences in achievement and recruitment to science courses at a higher level in the particular educational context of the Maltese Islands. In this context all secondary schools are single‐sex, the state system is highly centralized, selection and streaming are widely practised, a high proportion of students (25%) attend private schools, and physics is compulsory. The results show that: more girls than boys study physics and biology at the lower secondary level (ages 11‐16); more boys study chemistry; achievement at this level is on a par in biology and chemistry; girls achieve slightly lower in physics. At the upper secondary level (ages 16‐18), almost equal numbers of boys and girls study biology and chemistry but boys predominate in physics. Girls avoid the option of physics and mathematics, a popular choice with boys. Consequently, at tertiary level very few girls opt for courses in engineering and prefer to subscribe to courses relating to medicine.     

Girls’ biology,boys’ physics: evidence from free‐choice science learning settings

Many of the explanations for girls’ disinterest in physics focus on the role of the educational system in creating this situation. Here, we use evidence from free‐choice science learning settings to study if this lack of interest is also expressed in non‐school settings. Three sets of self‐generated questions raised by children, adolescents and adults in the fields of biology and physics were used. The outcomes of this analysis show that the polar pattern previously described in school science settings, in which physics proves significantly less interesting to girls than to boys, while biology is of greater interest to girls than to boys, also appears in free‐choice science learning settings. While boys develop an interest in physics with age, girls do not develop such an interest to the same degree. Thus, the initial gap in interest is probably not based on school‐related causes, but its widening in later years probably is. A difference was also found between the genders in the type of information requested and in the motivation for raising the questions. Using topics that appeal to girls’ interest as the context of science learning could prove beneficial in the process of mainstreaming science education. These topics can be identified using girls’ spontaneous questions.     

Gender and Science in the Swedish Compulsory School

This study investigates how Swedish pupils meet chemistry, physics and technology in compulsory school. It explores girls' and boys' actions in and thoughts about these subjects during grades 7 to 9. The pupils come from different worlds determined by gender and social background. In the classroom girls are given, and take upon themselves, the role of keeping lessons together, while boys' attempts to dominate the public arena create disorder. Girls and boys prefer different subject areas. Boys have a practical while girls have a more theoretical approach to science. Girls seek ‘connected knowledge’, and even the successful girls question their understanding. Girls who take an interest in physics and chemistry often have supporting scientist fathers or at least parents with a higher education. Technology is rejected by all girls. The mutual construction and reconstruction of gender and of science/technology contribute to gendered choices of study programmes in upper secondary school.     

Gender differences in mathematics and science: the role of the actiotope in determining individuals’ achievements and confidence in their own abilities

Despite changes, gender differences in math and science continue to exist in some countries. We examined whether the actiotopes of boys and girls at the high school level in math and science differed and the extent to which (a) their actiotope components, (b) the progressive development of their actiotopes (dynamic perspective), and (c) the co-adaptation of their actiotopes (systems perspective) function as predictors for girls’ and boys’ achievements and confidence in one’s own abilities in math and science. To answer these questions, we examined girls and boys (N?=?361) in Canada, the Czech Republic, and Germany with a questionnaire. The results suggest that girls are less effective at progressively developing their actiotopes in the fields of math and science and that modifications in their actiotopes were less well balanced by stabilizing forces. Independent of gender, the actiotope aspects considered here are suited to predicting achievements and confidence in one’s own abilities in math and science.     

Gender equity in mathematical achievement: the case of China

Gender differences in achievement in mathematics, a traditionally male-stereotyped subject, have long been a concern for many educators around the world. Gender differences in mathematical achievement have decreased in recent decades, especially in Western countries, and become small or insignificant in large-scale tests, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The situation in China has not yet been studied. The recent PISA report lists China B-S-J-G (representing Beijing–Shanghai–Jiangsu–Guangdong) as an educational system with no significant gender difference in mathematical achievement. Based on a secondary analysis of PISA 2015 mathematics data from China B-S-J-G, this study more deeply scrutinized gender differences in Chinese students’ mathematical performance, emphasizing societal factors, namely students’ socioeconomic status, school level, school type, school location, and socioeconomic status at school level. This analysis revealed important differences within the overall picture. Most importantly, significantly more boys than girls scored in the top tier of mathematics achievement. At the lower- and upper-secondary school levels, boys performed significantly better than girls, with the achievement difference increasing at the upper-secondary level. Furthermore, this study found that, on average, Chinese (B-S-J-G) girls achieved significantly lower average scores on the PISA 2015 mathematics test than boys in the same school. Overall, students’ individual characteristics and school characteristics need to be separated and both taken into account to examine the role of gender in mathematical achievement, which has not been thoroughly investigated in the past.     

Attitudes and achievement of Bruneian science students

The aim of this study was to evaluate attitudes towards and achievement in science of Form 3 students studying in single-sex and coeducational schools in Brunei. The results demonstrated significant differences in attitudes towards and achievement in science of male and female students in single-sex schools and students in coeducational schools. These differences were at moderate level. In single-sex schools, the girls achieved moderately better in science than the boys despite their attitudes were only marginally better than the boys. However, there were no gender differences in attitudes towards and achievement in science of students in coeducational schools. The attitudes towards and achievement in science of girls in single-sex schools were moderately better than those of girls in coeducational schools. Whereas the attitudes towards and achievement in science of boys in single-sex schools were only marginally better than the boys in coeducational schools. However, further research to investigate (a) if these differences are repeated at other levels as well as in other subjects, and (b) the extent to which school type contributed towards these differences is recommended.     

小学生社会性适应的性别差异研究

为了考察小学生社会性适应的性别差异,研究选取小学二至六年级的儿童作为被试。采用修订的班级戏剧问卷和同伴提名法对儿童的积极社会行为、攻击冒犯行为、敏感退缩行为、师生关系和同伴接纳程度进行评定。结果发现：在社会行为上,女生表现出更多的积极社会行为和敏感退缩行为,男生则表现出较多的攻击冒犯行为。在师生关系上,女生更容易与教师建立亲密的关系,男生更易与教师建立冲突和依赖的关系。在同伴接纳上,女生受欢迎程度更高、男生受拒绝程度更高。     

儿童青少年的性别平等意识现状调查

本研究选取长春市8所学校的1 527名大、中、小学生为被试,通过自编问卷（性别观念调查问卷）对他们在学校领域、家庭领域、职业领域的性别平等意识进行了调查。结果表明：（1）在发展趋势上,小学生性别平等意识较低,中学阶段性别平等意识有所提高,但在大学阶段又重现下降趋势;（2）在性别差异方面,在各学段女生的性别平等意识显著高于男生,女生性别平等意识初中阶段最强,男生性别平等意识高中阶段最强;（3）在不同领域中,被试在职业领域的性别平等意识最低,家庭和学校领域的性别平等意识显著高于职业领域。根据研究结果,对性别平等教育提出了建议,指出小学和大学阶段是性别平等教育的重要时期,男生群体尤其需要性别平等意识的教育,职业领域的性别平等问题应成为教育重点。     

Learning to label: socialisation,gender, and the hidden curriculum of high‐stakes testing

Although high‐stakes tests play an increasing role in students’ schooling experiences, scholars have not examined these tests as sites for socialisation. Drawing on qualitative data collected at an American urban primary school, this study explores what educators teach students about motivation and effort through high‐stakes testing, how students interpret and internalise these messages, and how student hierarchies develop as a result. I found that teachers located boys’ failure in their poor behavior and attitudes, while arguing that girls simply needed more self‐esteem to pass the test. Most boys accepted their teachers’ diagnosis of the problem. However, the boys who felt that they were already ‘doing their best’ and ‘working hard’ began to doubt that educational success is a function of merit and effort. I conclude that students learn about much more than the three Rs through their experiences with high‐stakes testing, and argue that future research should attend to the social dimensions of these experiences.