The French school system and sexual differentiation of social roles

✍ Scribed by Jean Guichard

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 541 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0165-0653
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00117690

✦ Synopsis

Do certain educational systems today limit the career possibilities of women by imposing a form of tacit sexual segregation at the high school level? Current findings in France tend to support this assumption. Over the course of the last 30 years, there has been a notable increase in the number of women holding positions requiring higher education. This change is related to better scholastic achievement in women in high school and to identification with an image of an active, independent and responsible woman. Nevertheless, the number of women in decision-making posts in industry and commerce remains insignificant. It would seem that the French school system is organized in such a way that through the interplay of students' wishes, deliberate refusal to allow students to enroll in curricula, and phenomena of self-selection, the majority of women students -in particular those from lower class backgrounds -obtain a Baccalaurdat diploma which in fact excludes them from forms of higher education that lead to the most desirable jobs on the q~mlified job market.