Abstract
In earlier chapters, we have observed that girls today continue to confront contradictions in the messages they receive about how to be in the world. At one level girls, especially middle-class girls, are primed to be individual achievers while at the same time they face and are shaped by a continual array of messages about acceptable femininity. Following significant changes in the way in which schools educate girls we have noted that more girls than boys are now successful in key indicators such as university entrance and graduation. Research consistently notes the degree to which girls value interpersonal relationships highly and spend much time on them (Hey 1997; Renold and Allan 2007). In this chapter, we describe the ways in which girls seek to balance the conflicting messages they receive.
Women are supposed to be feminine and attractive and to be able to keep men happy on the one hand, and on the other we’re told that we should be strong … career women, and we should strive to get what we want. (Alex 12H)
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Gill, J., Esson, K., Yuen, R. (2016). The Balancing Act. In: A Girl's Education. Palgrave Studies in Gender and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52487-4_4
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