Tackling Gender Inequality Raising Pupil Achievement By...

In a society that claims to strive for gender-equality, would it be possible to apply measures in order to put to an end the mutual exclusion created by both genders from a young age? In her book Tackling Gender Inequality Raising Pupil Achievement, Christine Forde analyzes and critiques the policy and strategies implemented to tackle gender inequality. Forde’s work is still relevant to today’s society as it deals with issues such as the ‘underachievement’ of boys making it a perfect text to study in order to further understand the underlying causes and problems left to resolve. In this book review, we will be objectively and critically looking at the main arguments within the text, the positive and negative aspects of Forde’s critique as†¦show more content†¦This shows the reader the difficulty of the topic from the very start. This suggests that the educational system will always be more favorable to a certain group within our society beca use of societal expectations. It is also clear that because of the engrained stereotypes such as â€Å"girls are all hardworking† (Forde, p.5) and â€Å"boys are inevitably troublesome† (Forde, p.5) complicates the task of creating a gender-equal curriculum and environment. This is why it is important to realize that gender in education cannot only be evaluated as an individual variable, other factors (such as disability, poverty, religion†¦) come into play and can affect one’s education and identity. The first part of the book gives us background knowledge on this issue. Chapter two deals with distinct policies and strategies put in place since the 1970s in order to identify common trends to tackle gender inequalities. Most of the policies mentioned in the text explain that â€Å"’gender’ was a part of a more general inclusion policy and not dealt with explicitly† (Forde, p.15) but all do nevertheless try to create a ‘positive ethos’. In this chapter, it is shown that although policies did not have a focus on gender, when children participated in gender â€Å"played role† (Forde, p.17) stereotypical views would arise. â€Å"Girls thought that boys got more attention and both boys and girls agreed that girls were better learners† (Forde, p.17) this emphasizes and