"Man Enough To Do It"? Girls and Non-Traditional Subjects in Lower Secondary Education

Emer Smyth and Merike Darmody
Additional contact information
Merike Darmody: Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)

No WP198, Papers from Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)

Abstract: This article examines the processes influencing the choice of non-traditional subjects by girls in lower secondary education in the Republic of Ireland. In particular, we focus on the traditionally ?male? technological subjects, namely, Materials Technology (Wood), Metalwork and Technical Graphics. Analyses are based on detailed case-studies of twelve secondary schools, placing them in the context of national patterns of subject take-up. Strong gender differentiation persists in the take-up of these technological subjects. Commonalities are evident across schools in the way in which the subjects are constructed as ?male?. However, some students, both female and male, actively contest these labels, and school policy and practice regarding subject provision and choice can make a difference to take-up patterns. It is argued that the persistent gendering of subjects has implications for the skills acquired by students, their engagement in education, and the education, training and career opportunities open to them on leaving school.

Keywords: gender; subject choice; stereotyping; lower secondary education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2007-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.esri.ie/pubs/WP198.pdf First version, 2007 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp198

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Papers from Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Burns ().