New research from End Sexism in Schools (ESIS) exposes how the education system embeds sexism in GCSE English Literature.
The “manopoly” of male authors and characters in the GCSE curriculum
Our latest research, Manopolies: How the education system embeds sexism in GCSE English Literature, found that only 5% of students studied a female authored text in the subject in 2024, only slightly up from 2% in 2022 despite more diverse texts being added to the curriculum.
Although there are female playwrights on set text lists, the male-authored play An Inspector Calls is studied by 76% of English Literature GCSE students and has been on the lists of all exam boards for between 26 and 39 years – when GCSEs were first introduced.
We see this as a direct link between the invisibility of women in the academic curriculum and the sexual abuse women and girls experience. Schools are only teaching boys to see the world from a male perspective, and this missed chance to develop empathy for girls and women regularly leads to misogyny and violence.
Young boys are bombarded with harmful content online with no counternarrative.
Exam boards unwilling to change
Exam boards told ESIS that they won’t remove An Inspector Calls so other texts have a chance, with one admitting that the play’s dominance on set text lists means there is a commercial risk if they are the only one to remove it.
The new report, Manopolies: How the Education System Embeds Sexism in GCSE English Literature, exposes that no official body monitors gender representation in the curriculum. There is no accountability for diversity in the curriculum across the Department for Education, Ofqual or the four examination boards.
Call for Government intervention
The UK Government is currently undertaking a Curriculum and Assessment Review, led by Professor Becky Francis. When Professor Francis released an interim report in March it included plans to improve representation in the curriculum but there was no mention of gender balance.
ESIS CEO Debbie Brazil says:
“The achievements, lives and experiences of women and girls should have equal space and importance in the curriculum as the achievements, lives and experiences of men and boys.”
We fed into the Curriculum and Assessment Review consultation, taking part in events and submitting a dossier of evidence on sexism, the invisibility of women in the curriculum and how it reinforces and reproduces misogyny in school and beyond.
However, our pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears and there is no mention of gender balance in the interim report.
“We’re calling for a wholesale change to the systems behind the creation of the GCSE curriculum. The Department for Education is the only body that has the power to mandate for gender balance in the curriculum – and it must do so urgently.”
