This book uses detailed case studies of two secondary schools in England to examine the relationship between curriculum choice and gender identity among 14-year-old students making their first choices about what to pursue at examination level. It reveals a two-way process. Pupils' decisions on what to take are influenced by how they perceive themselves in gender terms, and the curriculum once chosen reinforces their sense of gender divisions. Influences of peers, family, the labor market, and teachers are examined. It is argued that the belief in freedom of choice and school neutrality espoused by many teachers can become an important factor in the reproduction of gender divisions, and that unless the introduction of the national curriculum is accompanied by systematic efforts to eradicate sexism from the hidden curriculum it will fail to create greater equality of educational opportunity among the sexes. Five figures and 57 tables illustrate the discussion. An additional five tables in an appendix summarize research methodology. (Contains 158 references.) (Author/SLD)