Rethinking the ‘Gender and Literacy’ Debate; Looking Back to Move Forward
Author(s):
Rachael Levy (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Format:
Paper (Copy for Joint Session)

Session Information

07 SES 05 C JS, Joint Session NW 31 and NW 07

Paper Session Joint Session NW 07 and NW 31

Time:
2015-09-09
11:00-12:30
Room:
3002. [Main]
Chair:
Yvonne Leeman

Contribution

This paper opens fresh debate into the topic of gender and literacy, given that the debate has so far failed to understand how engagement and ‘success’ in literacy is related to achievement beyond the school system. Intrinsically linked with wider debates on education and achievement, attempts to explain the ‘gender gap’ have proliferated (Millard 1997; Connolly 2004). Yet, while studies consistently report that girls outperform boys in all aspects of literacy achievement and engagement across the world (Twist and Sainsbury 2009; Bradshaw et al. 2010), the World Economic Forum (2014) recently reported that the UK has now fallen out of the top 20 most gender-equal countries, with average earnings for women falling, while earnings for men remain unchanged. Given that girls outperform boys in literacy (the only school-based subject where a consistent gender difference in achievement is reported), this paper argues that there is an urgent need to re-examine the relationship between engagement and achievement in literacy and outcome in the labour market. 

The need to do this became apparent recently in the context of a larger study that set out to explore links between social mobility and attitudes towards literacy over the last 100 years (Levy et al. 2014). This study revealed that this relationship is highly complex and cannot be reduced to a simple causal connection, however this was particularly evident in relation to gender. Having gathered data through a systematic search of academic and ‘grey’ literature, policy documents and archived material such as the Mass Observation Archive, this study triggered the question; what role does literacy play in women’s achievement in, and beyond the school system, and what are the specific issues that need to be addressed within the education system today in order to promote greater equity in the workplace? In attempting to answer this question, this paper demonstrates that it is vital that we understand how socio-cultural and socio-historical factors influence many of the issues embedded within the gender and literacy debate today.

It was recognised from the outset that such reflection must acknowledge that definitions and constructions of the term ‘literacy’ are context-specific and constantly changing and that this is particularly salient as we move forward in technological advancement (Bearne 2009; Kress 2010). This raises further important questions such as; what do we mean by the term ‘literacy’ in relation to the gender and literacy debate? Have definitions changed over the lifetime of the debate and what are the implications of this for gender equity beyond school? This paper invites these avenues of enquiry into the gender and literacy debate in an attempt to bring the discussion up to date. 

It is argued that for too long now, the gender and literacy debate has rested on oversimplified binary constructions that provide a misleading and unhelpful view of achievement. As a result, much of the debate has not only failed to address the issue of gender inequality beyond the school system, but has contributed towards upholding narrow, oversimplified and unhelpful notions of gender and achievement. Rather than continuing to focus on boys’ underachievement in literacy, this paper argues that there is a need for all education systems to recognise how constructions of literacy are changing and understand what schools must do to accommodate this change in order to prepare all children for success in the workplace. 

Method

The main aim of the original study (Levy et al. 2014), funded by Booktrust, was to review existing evidence about attitudes to reading and writing over the last hundred years, drawing links with evidence about socio-economic status so as to present a historically based argument about the relationship between literacy and social mobility. This study drew on two main sources of data, first, the scholarship and policy literature and second, accounts of individual and families’ lives. The literature included a systematic search of the academic and ‘grey’ literature on reading, writing, attitudes and social mobility as well as legislation and other policy documentation. Accounts of reading in the lives of individuals and families were gathered from contributors to the Mass Observation Archive (MOA), intergenerational family interviews and responses to questions posted on social media. One of the research questions driving this study was: To what extent has literacy influenced social mobility in relation to gender? One finding was; ‘reading materials in themselves make a significant contribution towards the perpetuation of social conventions that keep people ‘in their place’….The data has revealed that stereotypical constructions of women and men in books and magazines has had an inevitable impact on opportunities for social mobility’ (Levy et al, 2014: 70). While this finding was not revolutionary in itself, it did trigger further questions in relation to the ‘gender and literacy debate’ as discussed above. This prompted a ‘revisit’ to the literature in order to understand the interplay between gender and literacy from the perspective of opportunity in the work force. Data were analysed using thematic codes to understand how constructions of being literate and their subsequent links with opportunities for women have developed and influenced each other over the last century. For example this paper presents Galbraith’s (1997) discussion of the autobiographies of men and women, born between 1860 and 1914, revealing that while many of the women were skilled and dedicated readers and writers and most had access to books and magazines, this in itself had little impact on opportunities for their own mobility in society. Moreover Sheridan’s (2000) work on the Mass Observation directives from 1944 reveals that the accusation that women want to ‘have it all’ was a barrier to women’s progression in the workplace after the war ended.

Expected Outcomes

Through a reflection into the past, this paper shows that opportunities for women continue to be impeded by the maintenance of a social norm that dictates how roles are defined inside and outside of the home on the basis of gender. Though research suggests that many people today are at least claiming to have gender-equal values (Selmi, 2005), evidence suggests that ‘automatic gender associations’ (Fine, 2010) undermine these conscious beliefs (Hochschild, 1990). Given that one particularly influential entity that penetrates all aspects of our social world is text, this paper argues that schools must help children to learn to read text with criticality. While there is much evidence to support the claim that many texts are gendered and offer powerful constructions of stereotypical femininity and masculinity (Taber and Woloshyn 2011; Lee and Collins 2009; 2010), Gilbert (1992, 191) argues that these can only ever be understood as ‘plausible’ if ‘readers begin with particular cultural expectations of gender’. This suggests that the teaching of literacy in school needs to include skills of critical analysis that encourage children to consciously reflect on the sociocultural implications of a text. This means that educators have a responsibility to not only help children to develop their own awareness of stereotypical constructions of gender in text but actively challenge a dominant discourse. In sum, this paper argues that the gender and literacy debate can play an active role in promoting a more enduring equality through the context of education, however for this to happen, emphasis needs to shift from attempting to close an illusive gender-gap to the creation of a discourse rooted in critical textual analysis. This paper argues that schools must teach children to become critical and reflective readers of text and help them to develop the ability to recognise and challenge harmful stereotypes within.

References

Bearne, E. 2009. Multimodality, literacy and texts: Developing a discourse. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 9:2 156–187 Bradshaw, J., R. Ager, B. Burge, and R. Wheater. 2010. PISA 2009: Achievement of 15-Year-Olds in England: Slough: NFER Connolly, P. 2004. Boys and schooling in the early years: London: RoutledgeFalmer Fine, C. 2010. Delusions of Gender: London: Icon Books Galbraith, G. 1997. Reading Lives: Reconstructing Childhood, Books, and Schools in Britain, 1870–1920. London: Macmillan Gilbert, P. 1992. The story so far: Gender, literacy and social regulation. Gender and Education 4: 185–99 Hochschild, A. R. 1990. The second shift. New York: Avon Books Kress, G. 2010. Literacy in the new media age, London: Routledge Lee, J.F.K., and P. Collins. 2009. Australian English-language textbooks: The gender issues. Gender and Education 21: 353–70 Lee, J.F.K., and P. Collins. 2010. Construction of gender: A comparison of Australian and Hong Kong English language textbooks. Journal of Gender Studies 19: 121–3 Levy, R., S. Little ., P. Clough., C. Nutbrown., J. Bishop., T. Lamb., and D. Yamada-Rice. 2014. Attitudes to Reading and Writing and their Links with Social Mobility (1914–2014).Booktrust Millard, E. 1997. Differently Literate. London: Routledge Falmer Selmi, M. 2005. Sex discrimination in the nineties, seventies style; Case studies of the preservation of male workplace norms. Employee rights and employment policy journal 9 1-50 Sheridan, D. 2000. ed. Wartime Women: A Mass-observation anthology 1937 – 45. London: Phoenix Press Taber, N. and Woloshyn, V. 2011. Issues of exceptionality, gender, and power: exploring Canadian children’s award-winning literature. Gender and Education 23:7 889-902 Twist, L., and M. Sainsbury. 2009. Girl friendly? Investigating the gender gap in national reading tests at age 11. Educational Research 51:2 284 World Economic Forum 2014. The Global Gender Gap Report 2014. World Economic Forum: Switzerland

Author Information

Rachael Levy (presenting / submitting)
University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

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