ABSTRACT

Up to this point, I have considered the way in which Millbridge and Greenhill schools used the system of option choice to convey traditional and restricted gender codes to pupils. I have also considered the nature of the interaction between the gender codes of pupils, parents and teachers and the ways in which these impacted on each other. At the time when the research was conducted, it appeared that the more conservative constructions of femininity were still in the ascendancy and were reflected in pupils’ option choices. None the less, a minority of radical pupils, parents and teachers were actively questioning received notions of femininity and were crafting new gender codes. A minority of mothers and daughters (some middle-class and some working-class) and female teachers were emphasising the centrality of career as well as family in women’s lives. Working-class girls were notably emphasising autonomy, which often included rebellion against the discipline of school life. I have argued that the option choice system at Millbridge and Greenhill tended to encourage traditional outcomes and offered little support to those who were seeking to redefine the culture of femininity.