ABSTRACT
The previous chapter attempted to shed some light on why many girls made sex-stereotyped option choices and regarded subjects in key areas of the curriculum as representing either male or female terrain. The reasons were complex, hinging on pupils’ desire to establish their own gender identity as well as protecting themselves from an unsympathetic male culture. The strategies employed by some girls who did successfully survive in male areas of the curriculum were touched upon. An interesting finding was that whilst girls felt that they had the right to stake out the boundaries of their own learning experiences, they were deeply resentful when they felt that the school was unjustly excluding them, and, in general terms, were in favour of the principle of equal opportunities. This chapter further explores these conflicting aspects of girls’ culture in the context of their expectations of their future lives in the public sphere of education and work and the private sphere of the home and family. Again, I discuss data of both a quantitative and qualitative nature in order to represent the picture in as much detail as possible.
