Struggling between tradition and modernity: gender and educational choice‐making in contemporary Cyprus

Abstract

This article investigates the role of gender in educational choice‐making for post secondary school destinations in contemporary Cyprus. More specifically, it examines the cultural and ideological mechanisms that produce gender differentiation in the way educational choices are made by secondary school students and their families. Drawing on evidence from a qualitative investigation of parents of students graduating from secondary schools it supports that the unequal patterns observed can be partly explained by the diverse ways Cypriot parents perceive gender roles which in turn influence their willingness to invest economic and non monetary resources to support their children’s choices.

Notes

1. When reference to ‘Cypriot’ society is made we refer to the Greek Cypriot society.

2. Out of 16 top achievers in various field of study in the 2004 exams 14 were female.

3. As well as social class and ethnicity.

4. The transition to modernity in the west has not been a smooth transition but rather a process that unfolded in the mist of class antagonisms and conflicts. Within this changing environment education as an institution emerged often as a response to the needs of ‘modern’ capitalist societies.

5. It must be pointed out that familial resources often have either positive or negative unintended consequences.

6. Moshonas (1993, pp. 273–276) describes this social group in the modern Greek society as the product of the mass transition of the agrarian population to the urban centres whereby the population took up paid employment in middle position, white collar occupations in the state and private sectors as well as self employed sub‐professionals and owners of small–size enterprises. In the context of the Cypriot society the lower middle class corresponds to a similar description.

7. Green and Vryonides (2005) argue that ‘Europe’ often appears in everyday discourse in the public and private spheres as a label, an ideal to which the Cypriot society should aim in order to appear ‘modern’. Argyrou (1996) further argues that for the media, the press, the politicians, and so on, Europe sets the standards of ‘quality’, ‘rationality’ and ‘progress’.

8. It is certainly a constraint for other routes namely studies at British and American universities, which are mostly available to high‐income professional middle class families (and to a lesser degree to lower middle class families) who can afford the high costs of such an endeavour.

9. One may make an observation at this point, which suggests that regarding the practice of offering a ‘dowry’ to daughters there is a ‘traditional’ versus ‘modern’ perception of how best to fulfil that obligation. Working class families may be more inclined to resort to traditional forms of dowry, e.g., providing for a house, whereas middle class families may make alternative provisions, e.g., financing higher education. This may be interpreted as putting different values on the priorities that different families set for their children. However, despite the fact that many would argue that dowry is an out‐of‐date practice, there is a strong sense of obligation among many parents originating from tradition to offer as much help as possible to facilitate their daughters in getting married.