Sex stereotypes, gender identity and subject choice at A‐level

Abstract

Summary The research reported in this paper looks at the relationship between perception of school subjects as masculine or feminine and other attitudes towards sex roles and sex traits, motivation and subject choices at A‐level of boys and girls in coeducational comprehensive schools in England and Wales. The pupils’ perceptions of subjects confirmed earlier findings, in that the sciences were seen as masculine and arts and languages as feminine, although a majority of pupils believed that both sexes were equally good at most subjects. A sex‐stereotyped view of subjects was associated with sex‐stereotyped attitudes towards occupations and roles. It was hypothesized that pupils whose attitudes were stereotyped and who saw themselves conforming to traditional notions of masculinity and femininity would be more likely to choose sex‐appropriate subjects. This hypothesis was confirmed in the case of boys but not for girls. Boys showed much more bias in their subject choices and those choosing exclusively masculine subjects were much more likely to support traditional sex roles and to conform to traditional notions of masculinity. No such pattern was found for girls. Girls doing feminine subjects were more likely to have non‐stereotyped views than those doing masculine subjects and were equally unlikely to conform to traditional notions of femininity.