Lecture Slides on Women Studies:Education, Elementary School, Widespread Inequalities, Slides of Sociology of Gender

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Education

Schools Socialize Us

• Like other agents of socialization, schools tell

us what behavior and feelings are appropriate

for which gender.

Elementary School

• Much of gender we learn is unintentional and largely

“hidden agendas” in the school curriculum

• Boys and girls attend schools equally in the U.S.
• Children are automatically and with little thought

segregated by gender. Why?

• Schools help create the dichotomy of boys and girls

rather than reflect some “natural” distinction among them.

Widespread Inequalities

• There is widespread educational inequalities based on gender, race, class, and age found in systems of education everywhere.
• Explanations for these inequalities include that
  • (1) educators rely on stereotypes about gender differences,
  • (2) schools provide teaching materials that promote stereotypical views of girls and boys,
  • (3)families and states favor the education of boys over girls, and
  • (4) standard beliefs are that students should train for appropriately gendered occupations (e.g., boys for science and girls for carework).

• Class-, gender-, and race-based

inequalities such as poverty, heterosexism, racism and nativism (hostility to immigrants) also contribute to a “chilly climate” in schools that impedes the progress of many students, boys as well as girls.

Treated Differently in K-

• For boys:
• Called on more frequently
• Boys speak up sooner, more interaction w/ teacher
• Boys demand more attention

For Girls:

• Wait less time for their answer before moving on even though girls are less assertive and like to think about their answers
• Girls become fringe elements of classroom action

Treated Differently

• For boys:
• When they speak out, teachers comment on their observations
• Encourage to correct a wrong answer or expand a right one

For Girls:

• Teachers engage in fewer complex interactions
• Teachers respond with a nod or brief “okay” and move on to the next topic

Treated Differently

• For boys:
• When they ask for help teachers give elaborate instructions to the student as he does the work

For Girls:

• When girls ask for help the teachers are more likely to show her how to do things by doing it themselves

For Girls

• Teachers are more apt to comment on

appearance or clothing or girls. What about

comments on academic performance?

• What does this indicate we value from our boys

and our girls?

• Teachers are largely unaware of these

discrepancies and are usually stunned to see

them when they view themselves on videotape.

The Results?

• Decline in girls’ self-confidence during school

years, especially adolescence

• Self esteem slightly declines for boys but more

noticeably declines for girls

• Boys scores go from 5 to 4.
• Girls’ scores go from 4 to 2.

Studies

Show that

at a

Younger

Age, Girls

are

Smarter

than

Boys…

Taming Warriors in the Kindergarten Classroom

• Not only girls are harmed in schools
• Boys also find difficulties
• Boys’ socialization doesn’t prepare them well

for school

• They’re taught to be rowdy and

rambunctious—traits that require discipline in

school.

Feminine Socialization

• Females are socialized to play nurturing and

self-display games; mothers, nurses, brides,

princesses are easily incorporated into school

• Ways of expressing themselves are within the

line of rationality, responsibility and decorum

of school.

Medicalizing and Medicating Boys in School

• Little boy can’t stop fidgeting? Ritalin!
• Diagnosis for ADHD increased by 700% in the 1990s; of all prescriptions in the world, 90% are to Americans
• Boys are 3 to 10 times more likely to be identified with ADHD
• Girls may be overlooked for diagnosis because it is marked by less disruptive, impulsive behavior and more by disorganized, unfocused performance.
• Or…

ADHD

• Women and girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) are not only less frequently diagnosed than their male counterparts.
• ADD/ADHD girls and women often require gender-specific treatments to help manage symptoms, succeed at school and work, and have successful relationships.

Teaching Materials

• School books contain many gendered messages. Studies in the 1970s found that more men and boys were characters in stories and the subjects of autobiographies and pictures.
• In the 1990s, the ratio of women and girls had improved but men and boy characters were still more visible and more likely to be active and involved in important areas of social life.
• Women and girls were invisible in introductory sociology texts for college students, relegated to chapters on family and sexuality, and underrepresented in chapters on politics.
• A result is that most students are ignorant about women’s contributions to ideas, social institutions and history.

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High School

• Slightly more than 10% of all high school

students drop out before graduation.

• Boys drop out more than girls, Latinos more

than white or black students

• Girls are more involved in extracurricular

activities than boys

Math and Science and Gender

• Girls now outnumber boys in college

preparatory courses, especially Geometry,

Algebra II, Biology, and Chemistry.

• They are only slightly behind boys in Calculus

and Physics

• But ideas about gender still identify these

fields as masculine.

• As a result, women may be less likely to

recognize their abilities in these fields.

Vocational Education

• Young women remain clustered in a few

vocational education programs that prepare

them for low-wage jobs.

• Young men are likely to train for skilled trades

with median hourly wages of about $30 an

hour

Title IX, No Child Left Behind, and Single Sex Schools

• Title IX, passed in l972, made it illegal for

schools that receive federal assistance to

discriminate against girls and women.

• There is a potential conflict between Title IX

and the No Child Left Behind Act, which

encourages schools to try same sex

classrooms.

SAT Scores

• SATs are an important gateway to higher education in the U.S. Women are now the majority of those students who take SATs, but men score higher on average on the test (see Table 5.5).
• Explanations for men’s higher scores are that boys are better prepared in high school, that the test is gender-biased, that the format of the test coincides with masculine style of test-taking, that the test rewards guessing (and boys are more likely to risk a guess), or that timed tests reward speed.
• The purpose of SATs is to try to predict which students will be successful in college, but they do not predict well.
• Women get better grades in college courses on average and are more likely to finish their degrees.

International Comparisons on Standardized Tests

• Boys and girls in many nations score about the same

on achievement exams when they have the same background.

• The biggest gaps in educational attainment are

between countries, not genders.

• The highest math scores of U.S. students are about

equal to the average score of students in the top scoring nations of Singapore, Korea, Japan, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

Higher Education and Gender

• In the past few decades, women have made

gains in education, especially in the United

States, which now has the highest proportion

of women attending college in the world.

• Men are still more likely to obtain a Doctoral

degree, but even that gap is diminishing

• The gender balance in many fields of university study has also become more equal as women enter fields once thought to be for men only, such as business, law, and dentistry.
• Similarly, men are more likely to earn degrees in women-dominated fields such as nursing, elementary education, and home economics
• However, within fields, gender differences remain. Women concentrate in family law and men in tax law, for example.