Adolescence: Change and Continuity

Gender Equity

There seems to be no magic formula that answers this question. Society has divided us for centuries along gender lines, which is impressed upon us at a very young age. Society's values then make their way into our school systems and further strengthen these opposing lines. Unfortunately females many times get the short end of the proverbial stick. Learning maybe discouraged for females in math and science, which inadvertently may hinder self-esteem and independence. Males may experience discouragement in verbal tasks. The following question needs to be examined:

What behaviors are considered gender biased in a classroom?

In many studies teachers make more academic contact with boys and spend more time with them, especially in math classes. Teachers favor boys in math early on. Boys seem to get more remarks of praise, personal statements, encouragement, and more jokes (Entwisle, in Feldman, 1990). Other researchers found teachers hold lower expectations of success, provide less stimulating cognitive activities, provide less instruction, and tend to do problems solving for girls. They also convey the attitude that girls succeed because of effort, but fail because of ability (Masland, 1995). One study even found some teachers separated the classroom into groups by gender (Berk, 1997). These actions send the wrong messages to both sexes and gender stereotypes are promoted. Children learn and model the attitudes of adults and the segregation cycle continues.

Self-monitoring of teachers:

Teachers must be aware of their own behavior and be objective in assessing it. The following questions have been proposed by Masland for self-evaluation:

• Am I calling on male students out of proportion to their numbers in class?
• Am I praising their contributions more? expanding on their answers more?
• Do I write substantive comments on papers from both female and male students?
• Do I promote equality in general in all subjects?

• Do not use the masculine "he" in referring to all students.
• Modify current teaching methods to acknowledge and validate contributions of all students.
• In group discussions, provide equal opportunities for everyone to speak.
• Incorporate women's history into the curriculum.
• Provide precise feedback to individuals on how to improve their work.
• Engage all students as participants rather than observers in activities (Masland, 1995).
• Encourage activities that promote "cross-gender" tasks.
• Avoid grouping students on the basis of gender.
• Refer to students only by their names or treat the class as a whole unit (Berk, 1997).

In reality we do not live in a perfect world. There will almost assuredly always be inequality and injustices. We can only do our best to set good examples for our future generations and hope that what we teach stays with them.

This site was produced by students taking HDFS 433: The Transition to Adulthood and HDFS 239: Adolescent Development at the Pennsylvania State University. Feedback can be sent to the individual authors or to Nancy Darling (darling@bard.edu).

Last updated 4/16/01.