CAROLYN
BEITZEL
Diary #29
My
Quick Study of Gender Bias
"Women's roles are not fully accepted. It is very hard for societies to evolve to their full potential as more than half the population is told they cannot participate equally." – Madeline Albright, Secretary of State, 1997A chief perception in American society is that girls do not receive the same educational opportunities as boys. What do you think? As I was revisiting some papers I wrote for undergraduate and graduate school, I came across a few that were gender-related. I wondered to myself, 'Now that I am a teacher, am I gender-biased towards my students?" The Research There is clear, historical evidence that the American educational system is not meeting girls' needs. Analysts of the gender gap cite societal and psychological factors. Girls and boys enter school at roughly the same level of ability, yet twelve years later, girls have fallen behind in key areas such as math, science and technology. In middle school, girls begin to opt out of math and science and start to question the relevancy of these subjects to their lives. These are critical years, where exposure to knowledge can afford rich opportunities to explore their capabilities and lay a solid foundation that will give them skills and confidence to explore deeper aspects during their high school years and beyond. Teacher expectations (that's me now), parent's perceptions of their child's ability, parent phobias passed on to their child and society's informal and formal stereotyping of girls have a significant emotional, social and academic effect on attitudes, interest and participation. Just read the American Association of University Women's "Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail Our Children" (1998), "Girls in the Middle" or "How Schools Shortchange Girls" (1992) to find out even more eye opening statistics about gender and education. The UnScientific Experiment I wanted to see if gender bias was still as prevalent in the classroom as the studies indicate, so I asked permission to observe a few classes on my "free" time. I watched the classes for about ten minutes at the beginning of each class and this is what I found (names have been changed): Class One, 6th grade, female teacher: Christopher answered a question.
The teacher reprimanded Joe.
Sue and Sara sat with their hands raised while Jim shouted out the answer.
Katie answered a question.
The teacher praised John for spelling.
The teacher helped David with a spelling mistake.
The teacher gave Sally a compliment on her neat paper. Class Two, 8th grade, male teacher: Shakira asked a question and was told to sit down.
Mike interrupted Vince to ask a question and was not reprimanded.
The teacher praised Joe for getting his textbook open (I noted three other students with their books open, 2 girls and 1 other boy)
Two girls were talking after told to be quiet and were reprimanded with teacher detention.
Bridget answered a question by putting her hand in the air (four other students also had hands up, 3 boys and 1 girl). Class Three, 8th grade, female teacher: This time I just took a tally of who got called on and if their hands were raised or they called out.
Question
1
Hand raised: 4 boys; 2 girls
Called Out: 0
Who
Answered: Boy
Hand raised: 3 boys; 5 girls
Called Out: 0
Who Answered: Boy Question 3
Hand raised: 3 boys; 2 girls
Called Out: 0
Who Answered: Girl Question 4
Hand raised: 2 boys; 4 girls
Called Out: 1
Who Answered: Boy I know, this quick study of what goes on in classrooms at my school is very unscientific, but it does show a certain bias against girls. Both male and female teachers seem to choose boys over girls when answering questions, and seem to reprimand girls more often than boys. The underlying gender message was fairly clear boys control the classroom conversation, ask and answer more questions, receive more praise, get help when confused and are the center of interaction. Conclusion The issue of gender bias is not a noisy problem. David Sadker writes, "Today's school girls face subtle and insidious gender lessonsŠthat appear seemingly insignificant when looked at individually, but have a cumulative impact." But so what, a sensible person might say. What harm has been done by not emphasizing the problems faced by girls in school? After all, women have always been at a historical disadvantage. The harm is this: academia and the public, although well documented, are still not taking the biases of gender experiences of girls seriously. These biases continue to disallow girls to receive the education they need to be able to participate in fields that may be male dominated. In encouraging girls by giving them positive role models, we inspire them to dare. In broadening their world and skills, we equip them for the challenges that lie ahead. In respecting their interests, we foster their strengths. As teachers, if we can focus on a gender neutral classroom, we can have all students follow their pathways to success.
