One of the main reasons for gender differences in subject choices is due to the primary socialisation that the children have.

Norman (1988) notes that from an early age, boys and girls are dressed differently, given different toys, and are encouraged to take part in different activities; parents tend to reward boys for being active and girls for being passive. As a result of this socialisation, boys and girls develop different reading tastes – boys read hobby books and girls are more likely to read books about people which explains why boys prefer science and girls prefer subjects such as English.

Norman (1988), Murphy and Elwood (1998)

This is further backed up by Browne and Ross’ (1991) argument that children’s beliefs about gender domains (the tasks/activities that children see as male or female ‘territory’) are shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults.

Gendered subject images also have an impact as to which subjects boys and girls choose when they have the option.

Science is seen as a ‘boys’ subject for many reasons, such as the fact that the teachers are more likely to be male, the examples in textbooks draw on boys’ experiences more than girls’, and because boys monopolise the apparatus and dominate the lab, acting as if it is theirs.

DfES (2007) found that pupils in single sex schools have less stereotyped subject images, and Leonard (2006) found that this may make both boys and girls choose the less ‘traditional’ subjects.

However, as previously mentioned, the early socialisation of a child may still have an impact upon which subjects they choose, despite having less gendered images if they are in a single-sex school.

Another reason for the differences in subject choice is because employment is highly gendered, in that jobs are ‘sex-typed’ as men’s or women’s. Women’s jobs often involve work similar to