Ch. 5 – Schools and Gender

Robert Wonser

Schools and Gender

• “power of education” – What does the Frederick Douglas example tell us about the importance of education?– Education may enable us to understand our social position

and thus empower us to change it.– Education is powerful because it can keep us in our

respective places. • Formal curriculum – the responsibility of schools to equip

students with the knowledge and skills they need to fill various roles in society. Requiring students to study subjects (e.g. reading, writing, mathematics, and history).

• Hidden curriculum – operates alongside the formal one, but teaches students particular social, political, and economic values. Sometimes explicit (e.g. “punishing students for being late) or implicit in materials used to teach traditional academic subjects. Through it, students view the world in particular ways.

Historical Overview of Men and Women in Education

• School comes from the ancient Greek word that means “leisure.” makes sense since it used to a luxury of the wealthy…

• Literacy was not common, nor was voting (was restricted to White, male property owners) education was largely for the privileged and also served as a means to maintain that privilege.

• When upper class women were educated it differed from men’s: men were prepared ton be ruling elite, women were prepared to be demure, witty, well-groomed partners for their husbands.

• Even though education was open to white people of all classes it charged tuition which meant it wasn’t available to most and it was illegal to educate slaves!

• Industrialization in the 19th century necessitated basic literacy and numeracy skills.

• Manual labor jobs of the past didn’t need them; the new economy did.• As work moved away from the home and family so did the education

function of families.• By 1850, all states had government supported education for White

children of all classes.• Black children were excluded until after the Civil War, and even then

schools were racially segregated.• Mass public education produced 2 major consequences:

– The Northeastern part of the country, White female literacy rates rose to match White male literacy rates.

– Provided women with new career opportunities as teachers• Cheap and efficient means to implement mass education

• Teachers used to be males who worked part time during the slow agriculturally winter months. It provided extra income but not enough to live off of. Urbanization demanded more teachers more of the time but didn’t pay enough to support a family off of enter women into the workforce.– Women were paid 40% less than their male counterparts under the

assumption that they had only themselves to support.– Their ‘maternal instincts’ mad them great candidates to work with

children and the male principals could be called in to discipline kids.– Plus, women are docile and will listen to the males in charge of the

curriculum.

• Most women who became teachers were trained in normal schools (precursors to teacher training colleges) or female seminaries.

• Prestigious institutions (like Yale and Harvard) denied admission to women because they were less intelligent than men so they’d bring down the schools averages, women’s education might disturb uterine development to the point of sterility, women would also distract men from their studies, or, they’d become more like men: loud, coarse and vulgar.

• Different standards for men and women even in the early coeducational facilities. E.g. women silent at assemblies, caring for themselves and men in the form of laundry and cooking.

• Funneling of areas of study for men and women:• A teaching degree or certificate remained one of the few

avenues for upward mobility for White, Black and immigrant women well into the 20th century.

Women and Men in Education During the 20th Century

• Fluctuating patterns of female college attendance. War (men off fighting, colleges seeking tuition replacement), education being seen as less important for female than for males, etc.

• Women seeking an Mrs. Rather than a B.S.?• 1972 – Title IX which forbids any sex

discrimination in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding.

Women and Men in Education During the 20th Century

Educating Girls and Boys: Elementary Schools

• When asked, teachers claim they respond equally to boys and girls.• In reality, research indicates otherwise.• Teachers interact differently (and often inequitably) with male and female

students. This happens in two ways:• The frequency of teacher-student interactions and the content of those

interactions.• Boys receive more instructional time and attention

– Could be because they demand it more. For instance boys are more likely to call out answers in class thereby focusing attention onto them. Research shows that when boys call out in class without raising their hands teachers usually accept their answers, whereas teachers typically correct girls who call out answers. But, even when unsolicited teachers are more likely to call on boys.

• Content also differs.– Teachers provided boys with more remediation; helped boys find correct

answers. They also posed more academic challenges to boys, encouraging them to think through their answers to arrive at the best possible academic response.

– Other research also supports this: boys get more praise for the intellectual quality of their work whereas girls get praised for being neat and congenial.

• Boys also receive more negative interactions with teachers.• More disciplinary action, lower marks on deportment (e.g. conduct, effort, paying

attention, completing assignments, classroom interest, cooperation and compliance).• Boys’ negative conduct ratings lower academic marks (particularly in reading)

even when male and female students have the same standardized test scores.• Even though not all teachers showed favoritism (in this particular study; Entwisle) the

academic performance of the students was affected by teacher bias regardless of which sex was favored.

• “other things equal, children of one sex or the other did significantly better on standardized tests of reading and math according to whether the teacher favored members of their sex in terms of interest/participation in class”

• Also, boys outnumber girls in referrals by teachers to special education programs even though medical reports indicate that the sex distribution of learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder (ADHD) is nearly equal.

• Explanation: The squeaky wheel gets the grease… boys are squeakier… • Behavioral differences in school between boys and girls reflects their pre-school

socialization.• Boys are taught to be active and aggressive and girls to be quiet and passive

gender socialization prepares girls better for the demands of elementary schools. Children's reinforcement supports these differences.

• Sex inequities embedded in teacher-student interactions lowers students’ academic self-esteem and confidence. This relationship is complicated by race and social class as well.

– E.g. regardless of race, middle-class children behave better than lower-class.– E.g. Black students are rewarded for social behavior whereas White students are rewarded

for academic achievements.

Hidden Curriculum in Schools• Gender messages are often reinforced through traditional curricular materials

(textbooks).• Women and racial minorities usually only presented in terms of a few “famous

women” or “famous Blacks”; or only mentioned in traditional contexts (slavery, civil rights movement for Blacks and the suffrage movement for women) or in terms of traditional roles (e.g. women married to famous men).

• The organization of school activities also gives children messages about gender.

• Sex separation : boys and girls in separate lines, teams according to student’s sex. What about the phrase, ‘boys and girls’?

• Trivial? Interrelated consequences emerge:• 1) sex separation prevents boys and girls from working together cooperatively,

thus denying children of both sexes valuable opportunities to learn about and sample one another’s interests.

• 2) sex separation makes working in same-sex groups more comfortable than working in mixed-sex groups—a feeling often carried over into adulthood and may be problematic in the labor force.

• 3) sex separation reinforces gender stereotypes, especially when they involve differential work assignments.

Gender Messages in Schools

• Children receive gender messages simply by the way adult jobs are distributed in their schools.

• Approximately 98% of elementary schoolteachers and 90% of teachers’ aides are women, women are underrepresented in the upper management of school administrations.

• 40% of school officials and administrators are women• 45% of principals and assistant principals are women.• Female principals are more likely to be found in charge

of “undesirable schools” • Research indicates that the sex of a school administrator

can have a measurable effect on children’s gender-role perceptions.

Educating Teenage Girls and Boys: The Secondary Schools

• Source of prestige and popularity:• For boys: athletic achievement. • Related sources: physical and verbal fighting skills, a good sense of

humor, and a willingness to take risks and defy norms of politeness.• “nonjock” is at a serious disadvantage.• On the court or playing field stereotypically masculine skills and

values: aggression (both sexual and the objectification of women), endurance, competitiveness, stoic invulnerability, self-confidence and teamwork.

• For girls: physical attractiveness• Enhanced through stylish clothes and make-up; but not too much!

Lest you be labeled a ‘slut’ or a ‘whore’. Should be sexually knowledgeable not sexually aggressive.

• Girls are supposed to be sexually passive, the object of boys’ sexual advances, but not sexual initiators.

• Even tougher for nonheterosexual males and females in high school

The High School Experiences of Gay and Lesbian Youths

• Majority of school personnel continue to assume the heterosexuality of their students and never raise the issue of sexual orientation (society wide idea of heteronormativity).

• Research shows that gay and lesbian students have disproportionately high rates of:

• Substance abuse, sexual abuse, parental rejection, homelessness, academic problems, and risk-taking behavior.

• 5 times more likely than heterosexual students to miss school because they fear for their safety.

• High risk for dropping out• Those who hide their sexual orientation may escape some of the physical

and verbal harassment but increased feelings of loneliness and alienation. • Disproportionately high suicide and attempted suicide rates among gay and

lesbian youths.• More than 30% of the 5,000 suicides by men and women age 15-24 are

related to emotional trauma resulting from sexual orientation issues an from societal pressures about same-sex relationships.

Secondary Schools (continued)• Recent research shows no sex difference in educational or occupational aspirations;

some even show girls as having higher aspirations than boys.• Despite their raised aspirations, teenage girls still tend to underestimate their

academic abilities and their self-confidence declines after age ten.• At adolescence, regardless of race/ethnicity or social class, girls increasingly find that

their experiences are devalued or ignored in patriarchal culture. • They come to “absent themselves in order to be with other people.”• Do girls have a fear of success? (remember the research showing they do better

alone than in mixed groups).• Some evidence shows girls feels uneasy and embarrassed about academic success

and some avoid subjects defined as masculine or downplay or hide their achievements because of fear of rejection by their peers (remember Means Girls and mathletes?)

• Different research shows that their fears are founded.• The glass ceiling also produces obstacles to girls’ successes • People treat them according to these views self-fulfilling prophesy.• Textbooks contribute to this as well as school administrators.• Research indicates that school counselors provide less useful career information to

girls; one study 70% said advice was inadequate or unhelpful. Gender stereotyping into career choices also occurs by counselors.

Gender, Mathematics and Computers

• Boys score higher than girls on the S.A.T.; particularly in the math section. Why?– Biologically or genetically caused?

• Despite widespread attention scientific data supporting these conclusions are sparse.– Evidence DOES show that boys do better at math because of better spatial skills, but

research indicates that these better spatial skills may be as much, if not more, a product of experience than of biology.

• Development of spatial and problem-solving skills is linked to: competitive sports, independence from parents, outdoor play, willingness to take risks, and neighborhood exploration. All activities boys are encouraged to partake in while growing up.

• Other social factors explain the difference:• Math and math related activities are oriented to males not females.

– E.g. math word problems are often oriented to male interests. girls may come to see math and computers ass masculine—affects not only

performance but also career aspirations.• Major difference between males and females regarding mathematics is not math

ability per se, but rather extent of exposure to mathematics.• Elementary school-little difference because boys and girls take the same math

classes; as years progress, girls are less likely to take beyond what is required consequently, 7.6% of HS boys take calculus, 4.7% of girls take this course.

• Among girls and boys with identical math backgrounds, there is little difference in performance on math tests

Colleges and Graduate Schools• Graduate degrees of men and women tend to be concentrated

in different fields• Men earn about 87% of Ph.D.s in physics but less than 5% in

nursing.• Women earn 75% of doctorates in home economics but just

12% of doctorates in engineering.• The overwhelming majority of all degrees are awarded to

Whites of both sexes.• Higher up the education ladder, the poorer the representation of

non-White racial and ethnic groups.• Racially and ethnically diverse student body benefits all

students.– White students improve their reasoning skills on such

campuses and also increase their likelihood of community involvement.

• Overall women as group have fared better in higher education than racial and ethnic minorities.

Educating Women and Men: Colleges and Graduate Schools

What About Higher Degrees?

Higher Education and Gender• We must consider not only why women are largely absent from certain

fields, but also why there are so few men in fields such as nursing, home economics, social work and library science.

• Title IX did away with overt sexism in education, however, there is still subtle everyday types of discrimination, micro-inequities which single out, ignore, or in some way discount individuals and their work or ideas on the basis of a trait (e.g. sex).

• Examples include:– Male students called on more, interrupted less, comments taken more

seriously.– Referring to physicians as “he” and nurses as “she”– Males as “men”, females as “girls”, “gals” or the generic “he” or “man” to

refer to both men and women.– Physical attributes mentioned even when discussing academic matter.– Disparaging comments about women in general

• Two barriers to equality for women in higher education:• Lack of mentors and role models and incidence of sexual harassment.

Women Faculty and Administrators

• Still too Few• Underrepresented among university administrators and

faculty.• Women: 44% of administrators at U.S. colleges and

universities; 83% of these women are White.• Women are 35.6% of full-time college and university

faculty• More prestigious the university or department, the fewer

women.• At doctoral granting institutions women account for

30.7% of faculty but at 2 year colleges, 47.6%

Role Models and Mentors

• Discrimination effectively keeps women out of academic and prevents those already there from moving up.

• Women of color face double discrimination• The result? Lack of mentors for female students and

students of color.• A mentor is a role model and more—usually an older,

established member of a profession who shows, young, newer members ‘the ropes’ by giving advice and providing valuable contacts with others in the field.

• They tend to choose protégés like themselves lack of female mentors.

Sexual Harassment• Sexual harassment involves any unwanted leers, comments, suggestions, or

physical contact of a sexual nature, as well as unwelcome requests for sexual favors. There are two types:

– Quid pro quo the harassment is directly tied to the granting or denial of a benefit or privilege– Second type of harassment involves creating a hostile environment by, for example, telling

sexual jokes, using sexual innuendo, spreading sexual rumors or publicly displaying sexual explicit material.

• 20-49% of female faculty have experienced some form of sexual harassment along with 20-30% of female students.

• Most sexual harassment in educational settings is perpetrated by peers, 20-30% however, are perpetrated by someone in a position of authority over the victim.

• Research indicates that harassment of a subordinate by an authority figure is worse, and women judge sexual harassment in general to be more problematic than men do. How come?

• Contrapower sexual harassment “occurs when the target of harassment possesses greater formal organizational power than the perpetrator. E.g. male students harassing female teacher. About one third of female faculty report that they have been harassed by students, most of whom were men.

• Impacts: females are more likely to report it than males, why? • Negative impact on school performance, lowered self esteem, emotional disturbance

and physical illness. Tension versus supportive envorinment.

Structuring More Positive Learning Environments

• Is there empirical evidence supporting the idea that single sex schools are beneficial?– Findings are inconsistent.– Boys behave better in sex segregated schools but perform academically

better in mixed sex schools.– Girls have, on average, higher levels of self-confidence and greater academic

success throughout their school years which leads to higher status, higher paying jobs

• Even if it helps some girls learn better it doesn’t address the problem of gender inequality and discrimination in society’s institutions.

• Other ideas? Gender-fair curriculum by integrating learning materials about women, as well as people of color, gays and lesbians, into the curricula of educational institutions. Women’s Studies programs began this in universities.

• What about the difference between incorporating women’s issues as half of the human experience taught in all courses not specialized ones.

• Why would curriculum revision/transformation projects meet so much resistance?• There is evidence that women’s studies courses have had a positive impact on

students: diminishing stereotyped attitudes about women, increasing self-esteem, developing critical thinking skills, expanding students’ sense of options and goals in life, helping students acquire a greater ability to understand their personal experiences in a broader social context.