Breaking the Mould…

1. Breaking the Mould…

2. Breaking the Mould…

3. Gender stereotyping not only prevents some boys engaging with education, it also limits girls’ and boys’ ability to pursue their interests and talents EHRC GED Guidance

4. Careers for girls… • Young women achieve better educationally than boys at the age of 16. A higher proportion of girls than boys continue in education to degree level. Their early success, however, does not translate into similar advantages in terms of careers and pay in later life.Women are also less likely than men to work in certain sectors such as science, engineering and technology. Ofsted, 2011

5. Careers for girls… • Almost all the girls and young women who took part in the survey were open to the possibility of pursuing a career that challenged gender stereotypes • Their awareness of this potential, however, did not always translate into practice. Course and career choices made by the girls and young women, in the schools and colleges visited, were predominantly stereotypical. Ofsted, 2011

6. Careers for girls… • From an early age, the girls surveyed had held conventionally stereotypical views about jobs for men and women. They retained those views throughout their schooling despite being taught about equality of opportunity and knowing their rights to access any kind of future career Ofsted, 2011

7. The gender pay gap • Men earn more than women almost as soon as they enter the labour market and the pay gap rises with age. So there is an average pay gap for full-time workers aged 18-21, with young women paid on average 3.7 per cent less • The pay gap starts even before explanations such as part-time work or motherhood apply • The full-time gender pay gap between women and men is 15.5 per cent.

8. Young people’s attitudes to non-traditional work • 36% girls would, 44% might consider a non-traditional job (14 and 41% boys) • At least 1/3 pupils would like to try a non-traditional work placement • Suggested opening up world of work built into primary school experience

9. What’s stopping them? • Linked male/female jobs to stereotyped attributes • Boys most worried about: • Type of work involved in female jobs • Opportunities for progression • Friends would tease them • Sexuality would be questioned • Girls most worried about: • The way they would be treated in non-traditional work • Feeling isolated

10. The equality duties and schools • In terms of action to promote gender equality, schools were most likely to say they ensure that clubs/activities/subjects/sports are open to both boys and girls • They also mentioned monitoring progress, improving boys’ learning, adapting the curriculum to meet the needs of boys, and encouraging pupils to take up non-traditional subjects and options • Schools were more likely to provide an example of positive impact for male pupils than female pupils.

11. The equality duties and schools • Despite the evidence of the importance of these issues, most schools did not highlight equality practice on • tackling stereotyping in respect of subject choice • addressing the causes of the gender pay gap • violence against women and girls EHRC, 2011

12. Under ten and under pressure? • Girls who are slim and pretty are seen as more likely to be happy, popular, clever and friendly • “They’re pretty and because of that they might be able to run really fast and like they’re good at like reading and writing and they’re good at all kinds of things…” Girlguiding UK, 2007

13. Under ten and under pressure? • Girls who are overweight or less attractive are viewed as more likely to be unhappy, lonely, picked on for their appearance, or victims of bullying • Some girls connected happiness with wearing fashionable clothes and being wealthy • “I go to the gym… nearly every day.” Girlguiding UK, 2007

14. Under ten and under pressure? • Even casual observations from adults – for example about their own weight, or the appearances of friends, family or celebrities – can have an impact on girls’ self-image. • There were also concerns about schools getting the balance right when it comes to talking about new healthy eating initiatives, to prevent children feeling guilty and anxious about food. Girlguiding UK, 2007

15. Sexual harassment starts early • The Sugar/NSPCC readers' poll in 2006 revealed that nearly half (45%) of teenage girls surveyed had had their bottom or breasts groped against their wishes • Almost one in three 16-18 year old girls in the UK say they have experienced unwanted sexual contact at school itself (Yougov, 2010 for EVAW) • The highest proportion of reported rapes are from under 18's. (Making The Grade? 2006, pg 41)

16. Sexting • Girls as young as 12 reported feeling under pressure from boys in their peer networks to “hook up”, give “heads” or send images of themselves. They felt that they could not talk to anyone for fear of being labelled a “grass”. • Boys who have sex are seen as ‘players’ and earn the respect of their peers, while girls who do the same are labelled ‘sluts’. • ‘Boys have been encouraged by a wider culture to see girls’ bodies as property which they can own. Even if they don’t have this view it’s difficult for them to directly challenge this for fear of being called ‘gay.’ NSPCC/Kings College

17. Over 75% of 11-12 year old boys thought it was acceptable that women get hit if they make men angry, and more boys than girls of all ages believed that some women deserved to be hit Universities of Warwick, Bristol, Durham/ EHRC GED Guidance

18. What are boys learning about masculinity…? • The permanent exclusion rate for boys in 2009-10 was approximately four times higher than that for girls. Children’s Commissioner, March 2012

19. What are boys learning about masculinity…? • Two thirds of pupils in alternative provision and PRUs are boys

20. The gender-gap in literacy Boys Girls Gap KS1 Writing 75% 86% 11% KS2 English 76% 85% 9% KS3 English 68% 81% 13% GCSE English 53% 68% 15% DCSF Gateway: Statistics for 2007

21. To encourage boys to widen their imaginative horizons and change their attitudes to some activities (e.g. engage in literacy) they have to see these activities as MEANINGFUL - not easy if they remain associated with low status femininity Gender Is Not Over! Gabrielle Ivinson, Cardiff University NUT International Women’s Day Reception, 2010

22. The 1990s saw the beginning of the backlash against the feminist innovations of the 80’s and just as progressive discourses were pilloried by right and the left, so women and femininity have been blamed for flooding schools and classrooms with oestrogen creating environments in which boys and men could not thrive. Gender Is Not Over! Gabrielle Ivinson, Cardiff University NUT International Women’s Day Reception, 2010

23. Do we need more male teachers...? British government policy on teacher recruitment gives a high priority to increasing the number of male teachers, particularly to primary schools. This focus stems from concern to challenge ‘boys’ underachievement’: policy-makers believe that ‘matching’ teachers and pupils by gender will improve boys’ engagement with school. Yet there is little evidence to support such assumptions which, as this article notes, are predicated on out-dated theories of social learning. Francis, Skelton, Carrington, Hutchings, Read & Hall, I. (2008) A Perfect Match? Pupils’ and teachers’ views of the impact of matching educators and learners by gender

24. What works?

25. What DOES work? It is in schools where gender constructions are less accentuated that boys tend to do better – and strategies that work to reduce constructions of gender difference that are most effective in facilitating boys’ achievement. Professor Becky Francis and Professor Christine Skelton DSCF 8th April 2008

26. What DOES work? A whole-school approach tackling stereotypical constructions of masculinity and femininity expectations of high achievement for both girls and boys Professor Becky Francis and Professor Christine Skelton DSCF 8th April 2008

27. What DOES work? Instigating classroom discussion and thinking about gender constructions, their manifestations, and implications Using a wide variety of approaches to literacy – including using literacy as a vehicle for deconstructing stereotypes Professor Becky Francis and Professor Christine Skelton DSCF 8th April 2008

28. Ofsted Evaluation Schedule, 2012 Inspection is primarily about evaluating how individual pupils benefit from their school. It is important to test the school’s response to individual needs by observing how well it helps all pupils to make progress and fulfil their potential, especially those whose needs, dispositions, aptitudes or circumstances require particularly perceptive and expert teaching and, in some cases, additional support. Depending on the type of school, such pupils may include: • boys • girls • lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils • transgender pupils

29. Ofsted Evaluation Schedule, 2012 Inspectors must consider how well the school promotes all pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development by providing positive experiences through planned and coherent opportunities in the curriculum and through interactions with teachers, other adults and the local community as shown by pupils’ … developing awareness of, and respect towards, diversity in relation to, for example, gender, race, religion and belief, culture, sexual orientation, and disability

30. The public sector equality duty ... requires public authorities to • Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation • Advance equality of opportunity • Foster good relations

31. “Stereotypes stop you doing stuff...” ‘People seem to be very definite in their ideas of what a “proper” boy or a “proper” girl should do or be interested in. It takes very little deviation from these so called norms for a person to be singled out and picked on’ Primary Teacher

37. “Don’t you look pretty?”

38. “Can I have two big strong boys to help me move this table...”

45. Boys’ things or girls things…?