ABSTRACT
In 1993, it was clear that the impact of New Right economic, educational and social reforms on gender relations would be considerable and complex. Given the contradictory agenda set by the neo-conservative and neo-liberal wings of the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher (Arnot, 1993; Arnot, David and Weiner, 1998), it seemed likely that traditional gender relations would not simply be sustained within the new era but would also be transformed. Economic policies were likely to have differential impact on male and female patterns of employment and educational and social policies would almost certainly affect middle-class and working-class pupils in unequal ways. Central to this reform agenda was the restructuring of the pivotal relationships between schooling, families and the economy, and the role of the state within such relationships. It was probable, therefore, that the 1980s and 1990s would witness a social transformation of gender relations. As I shall argue, the restructuring of society and of schools in the late twentieth century substantially changed the modalities of gender transmission and its ‘gendered’ products in quite fundamental ways.
