Introduction to gender equity in schooling
Discuss about the Gender Equity in the Primary Schools in Australia.
Gender equity in schooling is premised on the notion that there are differences in the experiences and the outcomes in the education for girls and boys. This may be attributed to the gendered socialization and the gendered expectations from the members of the opposite sexes. There is the recognition of the impact of gendered socialization that restricts and limits instead of expanding the possibilities for the women and girls. Much like the different areas of human experience, the construction of gender can be understood and has the potential to change. The Australian Education Council established the National Policy for the education of Girls in 1987. Australian Education Council released the National Action Plan for the Education of Girls 1993-97 in the year 1993. The National Action Plan focussed on the areas of reform that was considered to be important for improving the education of girls. Gender is a central issue for both boys and girls. It is argued that boys have different needs that are not fulfilled by the schools. The myopic view of masculinity and the archetypical views about the roles and responsibilities of the girls and the boys, vis-à-vis the gendered division of labour. It has been identified that there are significant differences between the rewards of schooling experienced by the boys and girls. Although girls stay longer in school compared to boys, the former is not deriving the same post-school benefits from schooling. This view is buttressed by the closer examination of the experience of the boys and the girls from their outcome of schooling. It is manifested in the differences in subject choices, differences in the skills developed by the boys and the girls and the different life experiences related to the gendered construction of the boys and the girls (Gray & Leith, 2004). It has been found that whilst girls are entering the subjects traditionally seen to be the territories of men and securing praiseworthy results, however their participation rate in this is significantly lower than the boys. The participation of the boys remain concentrated in the subjects that are traditionally seen appropriate to their character. Boys are found to be predominant in the literacy programs, reading and other learning support programs for the students with emotional and the behavioural disturbances. Schools and communities have recognized that violence in schools is linked to the understanding of the inappropriate and distorted understandings of femininity and masculinity. There is a greater propensity for men being involved in violence compared to women, engaging in risk-taking behaviours and behaviours that are destructive to the emotional and physical health of boys and girls. The reason that boys and girls continue to narrowly define their gender is reflected in the limited post-school career options for the boys and the girls. School achievements related to gender equity do not necessarily translate into the much needed reforms in the workplace or the wider community and the schools do not wish to always teach those skills necessary to deal with the post-school barriers to equity. Although there has been an increase in the number of women entering the occupations that are traditionally considered to be the male domains and women are under-represented in the field of management studies and in the leadership positions. Girls and women are found to be carrying the great share of unpaid work whilst boys and men are less involved in the affective roles. All these can be attributed to the complex dynamic of gender, schooling and society therefore creating a range of interpretations about masculinity and femininity.
The National Policy for Girls’ Education in Australia
In Australia, the principles for action that have developed encapsulate the best practise for education considering the needs of all the students and connect it to the best practise to the demands of the changing community. The principles documented in the Gender Equity: A Framework for Australian schools upholds that there should be equitable access to education that would be centred around effective and rewarding education. The objective of this is to enhance rather than limit about what it means to be female and male (Dorius & Firebaugh, 2010). There is an emphasis on the equitable participation of the girls and the boys in the society that is characterized by the changing patterns of working and the civic and the domestic life. There is an emphasis on schools need to recognize their active role in the construction of gender and their responsibility to ensure that the management and the organizational practises manifest the commitment to gender equity. There is an understanding regarding the effective partnership between schools, education and the training systems, the community and the parent along with a wide range of agencies and organizations for contributing to the improvement and the change in the educational outcomes for the girls and the boys. There is an anti-discrimination and other relevant legislation on the state, territory, federal and the international levels that inform the educational programs and the services.
Teachers believe that that they treat boys and girls equally that is hardly achieved. Studies have shown that boys are reprimanded more than the girls are and there are more questions directed at the boys than the girls (Gray & Leith, 2004). There is clear-cut gender disparity in the classroom. It has been found that boys are socialized to expect more attention in the classroom whereas girls receive less attention in the classroom despite putting extra effort. However as the study by Davis and Brember have shown that girls are more motivated and are less demanding compared to their male counterparts. Gendered socialization of the girls make them more submissive and conforming whereas the boys are found to be less conforming by the teachers (Cooray & Potrafke, 2011). However, this non-conformity among the boys is treated with affirmation and interest. On the contrary, non-conformity among the girls is considered to anomalous with their personality. Girls and boys receive different feedback from the teachers. In case of girls during marking, they are marked right or wrong. On the contrary boys are explained more about the marking criteria so that they can improve their performance. Although there is not much gender difference in the mathematics score of the boys and the girls, teachers perceive the ability and aptitude of the boys and the girls to be different. It has been found that there are teachers who are uncomfortable with challenging the gender stereotypes.
Contemporary perspectives of learning and development in Australia
Inequality remains a strong issue in Australia. A recent survey has shown that the children in the primary school have reported that they are not treated as fairly as their male counterparts. International Australia surveyed more than 1700 girls in the age group of 10 and 17 to understand their experiences of inequality (Gender gap, 2018). It was revealed that 98 per cent believed that they were unfairly treated particularly in the field of sports. Deputy chief Executive Sussane Legena found the report to be quite shocking and exhorted for immediate action. She underscored that it is a wakeup call for the governments to address this pertinent issue by banning sexist advertisement that reinforce gender stereotypes and by removing gendered school uniforms as it exacerbates the divide between girls and boys. These have been recognized as the ways for closing the gender gap. Legena further asserted that it is no use telling a girl that she is empowered until the structures of patriarchy and the systematic exclusion of women are not outlawed immediately. Two thirds of the girls aged between 10 and 14 reported that they were treated equally at home. Schools have fared slightly better with 45 per cent of the younger girls who reported that they were treated equal to the boys in the class. More than half of the teenage girls reported that they were not treated equally as compared to their male counterparts. Schools in Western Australia and Victoria have been successful in removing gendered uniforms and teaching students to be more respectful towards the relationships. All the girls who were surveyed reported that they were equal to their male counterparts and that there was equality between the sexes. More than half of the 10 to 12 year olds have described themselves to be confident.
Like most of the English speaking market-oriented democracies, Australia considers itself to be a merit-based society in which every individual irrespective of their social location has an equal chance in the society. However, the existing reality of the education system characterizes that the Australian society is an epitome of social stratification and inequality. Evidence has shown that schools promote inequality instead of promoting equity and therefore, schools have turned into engines of inequality (Sikora & Saha, 2009). Schools have organized themselves around choice and competition to perpetuate education. The social stratification in the filed of education is sharper than most of the countries. Children who belong to affluent families are enrolled in the high, independent schools. On the other hand, children from the low-income and marginalized groups are enrolled in the public or the government schools. Teachers are encouraged to develop feminist collectives at the schools to counter everyday sexism and part of the Victorian government backed initiative to deal with the social epidemic of domestic violence beyond the schoolyard. Fightback is a feminist-based teaching guide that provides a grim picture about the white male privilege in the schools of Australia is endorsed within the Victorian government’s $21 Respectful Relationships project has been implemented in more than 120 schools and there will be more than 100 schools that would follow the footsteps (Subrahmanian, 2005). The objective of Fightback is to educate the school students about gender equality that leads to the high rates of sexism and the discrimination that ultimately promotes to high rates of sexism and discrimination and perpetuates violence against women. Respectful Relationships curriculum guide and introduces the students to the concept of privilege in which some groups have advantage over other groups that are not achieved but are ascribed. Gender inequality in enmeshed with racism and class inequality in Australia. However, the Respectful Relationship curriculum has earned wide criticism. It has been stated that 25 per cent of the domestic violence victims are men, men have been found having high mortality rate than women and young men have greater rates of youth suicide (Belot, 2018). It has been further argued that such kind of teachings are embedded in reverse sexism that essentializes all men as perpetrators of crime and this kind of campaigns can make men feel targeted and lead to self-fulfilling prophecy. It has been argued if people are not treated as individuals but members of a victim group is quite socially destructive. However, the Fightback initiative is important to discuss issues pertaining to gender and what it can mean to people. Another criticism that was hurled against the Fightback initiative is from the Liberal education spokesman Nick Wakeling who has attacked the Labor government for deploying insidious political ideologies in school by sacrificing the real education. He is of the opinion that young boys are in need of skills that would prepare them for meaningful employment instead they are being brainwashed and socially stigmatized. However, State Education Minister, James Merlino contended that schools can use whatever means they deem fit for teaching the children to deal with the various challenges of life.
Rationale for understanding the issue of gender equity
The gendered segregation, gendered stereotypes and gendered experiences in the primary school settings in Australia can be attributed gendered socialization and gendered division of labour that is prevalent in the patriarchal society (Marks, 2018). Schools exist within the boundaries of the patriarchal society and reflect the broader stratified values of the society. Therefore, it is the cultural socialization rather than inherent biological endowments that inform the characteristics between the boys and the girls. The dominant conceptions of masculinity and femininity structure and determine the males and the females by highlighting their differences and assigning them unequal value, power and status. These dominant concepts ignore the ways in which girls and the boys develop their own concept of what it means to be feminine and what it means to exhibit masculine behaviour.
Studies conducted by Wigfield et al have found that when low expectations from the teachers are transferred to the students either in a direct or an indirect manner they can bring down the morale of the girl students and lower their self-competence and self-esteem compared to their male counterparts (Sikora & Saha, 2009). Gender is also marked in the everyday school practise where girls and boys are segregated differently. Playgrounds are considered as the football pitches and it is the boys who are found to be occupying the larger area compared to the girls who are found to be occupying the smaller area (Vosko, MacDonald & Campbell, 2009). The gendered division and gendered inequality has resulted in the boys monopolizing the natural sciences apparatus and being more visible in the areas related to physical science. The lack of participation of the girls in the classroom activities leads girls to develop negative and less confident attitude towards the computers compared to the boys. The gendered construction of men and women in the school curriculum have been argued to impinge on the children’s play preference and inform their perception about the appropriateness of the task to be performed by the members of different sex.
Conclusion
The first step in this direction is to challenge the stereotypes posed by a patriarchal society and liberating the children from these gender restrictions. There needs to be an exposure to non-traditional literature that would challenge that traditional stereotypes and the opportunities that would act as the fulcrum for classroom debate. It has been found that teachers although are comfortable about the equal participation of the girls and the boys in the classroom. They are not comfortable with discussions related to the sexist language, the construction of men and women through the textbooks and the identification of their own sex. There needs to be a more nuanced understanding in terms of essentialising the girls and the boys. There needs to be the incorporation of sexuality as identity formation in the classroom to understand the power and position of sexuality informing the teacher and the student dynamics. There should be incorporation of a wide range of experiences, skills and knowledge, and aspirations of girls and women and also for the boys and the men. It should be ensured that there is a clear understanding of gender equality that are integral to the curriculum development, assessment of the design and the implementation of all the key findings into the learning areas. There needs to be an alteration for assessing the competencies between boys and girls. There needs to be major policies for attaining the gender equity in which both the men and the women will be targeted. There needs to be discussion on the ways, the teachers and parents can overcome resistance in learning about the gendered construction and its implications for the development of the child.
References
Belot, H. (2018). Engineers concerned by gender inequality and school standards. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/education/engineers-concerned-by-gender-inequality-and-school-standards-20160420-goatfo.html
Cooray, A., & Potrafke, N. (2011). Gender inequality in education: Political institutions or culture and religion?.European Journal of Political Economy, 27(2), 268-280.
Dorius, S. F., & Firebaugh, G. (2010). Trends in global gender inequality. Social Forces, 88(5), 1941-1968.
Gender gap. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/opinion/gender-gap/news-story/0cc568ad44f35773b07417322e66ff45?sv=75d6a706720d7ab54d02630ad27d86dd
Gray, C., & Leith, H. (2004). Perpetuating gender stereotypes in the classroom: A teacher perspective. Educational Studies,30(1), 3-17.
How Far Have We Come? Gender Disparities in the Australian Higher Education System – Parliament of Australia. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publica
Marks, G. N. (2008). Accounting for the gender gaps in student performance in reading and mathematics: evidence from 31 countries. Oxford Review of Education, 34(1), 89-109.
Sikora, J., & Saha, L. J. (2009). Gender and professional career plans of high school students in comparative perspective. Educational Research and Evaluation, 15(4), 385-403.
Subrahmanian, R. (2005). Gender equality in education: Definitions and measurements. International Journal of Educational Development, 25(4), 395-407.
Vosko, L. F., MacDonald, M., & Campbell, I. (Eds.). (2009).Gender and the contours of precarious employment. Routledge.
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