Learning gender in primary school playgrounds: findings from the Tomboy Identities Study

“Football is a boys’ game”: children’s perceptions about barriers for physical activity during recess time

“…At the next level, individual characteristics influence how children are perceived and treated by their peers, that which produces a specific microsystem of relation among them. In our results, this microsystem of relationships during recess promotes a gender construction where sports and competitive games are associated with masculinity, while stillness relates to femininity (Blatchford et al, 2003; Chalabaev et al, 2013; Paechter & Clark, 2007; Slater & Tiggemann, 2010). …”

Objectively measured differences in physical activity in five types of schoolyard area

“…Blatchford et al (2003) indicated that boys were significantly more likely to be involved in ball games, and girls more in conversation, sedentary play, jump skipping and verbal games. Paechter and Clark (2007) suggested that PA in the schoolyard was affected by the social expectations among children that boys should be active in competitive sports, which might also explain why girls in our and previous studies were found to be less engaged in MVPA and more in sedentary behavior in the schoolyard compared to boys (Bailey et al, 2012;Hilland et al, 2011;Ridgers et al, 2005;Stratton & Mullan, 2005). Despite spending a similar amount of time in the schoolyard, and the different schoolyard areas, girls may not perceive the facilities and areas as accessible or as enjoyable as boys do.…”

Being ‘nice’ or being ‘normal’: girls resisting discourses of ‘coolness’

“…Within the class, we identified three broad groups of girls, each focused around a different set of discourses associated both with their status positions in the class and their approaches to life and friendship. It included a highly dominant group of 'cool girls', about whom we have written elsewhere (Paechter & Clark, 2007, 2010. In this paper we will concentrate mainly on the rest of the girls in the class, comprising two main groups and a best-friend pair, plus a single girl, Mia, who aspired to join the 'cool girls' but was given the pariah status of 'wannabe', or 'stalker' by the other children (Goodwin, 2002) (Søndergaard, 2012).…”