Running head: GENDER EQUALITY WITHING THE CLASSROOM

Critical Analysis of Social, Global & Cultural Issues

05-80-209

Dr. Holloway

Gender Equality Within The Classroom

November 19th 2015

Nicole Paterson 103313988

Amanda Hanley 103499488

GENDER EQUALITY WITHING THE CLASSROOM

Is everyone really equal defines gender as the roles, behaviors, and expectations our
culture assigns to those bodily differences: how are you supposed to feel and act based on
whether your body is seen as female or male. (Sensoy, DiAngelo. P. 17) Although there has
been much progress towards achieving equality between sexes, gender discrimination is still very
much present. The following anecdote influenced our decision to analyse the injustices that many
young children face each day. Every September at my work, we hold an event called Kids See
Free, where children ages 4-10 receive a free pair of glasses. A father came in with his two
children, a boy and a girl, after seeing both prescriptions, the boys was slight, however the little
girls was fairly high, and couldnt see distance. When I explained to him that his daughters
prescription was really high and that she needed glasses and couldn't see otherwise, he simply
responded with she doesnt need them and only wanted the one pair. When I tried to reason
with this gentleman, he became irate and left. This paper focuses on explaining the
responsibility of teachers as being advocates for childrens rights, and their role educate them
about equality so that they are able to see beyond stereotypes while growing into adulthood.

Today, teachers have the crucial role of empowering their students in the classroom by
educating them about gender norms and equality and applying them in their lives. Teachers are
responsible for stopping discrimination before it begins within the classroom, and by
encouraging both sexes to participate in all types of academic and physical activity. (Acker.
1988) It is the goal of every teacher to treat all students equally, and to be a model of how to treat
others, however girls and boys are often unknowingly treated differently. According to Younger,
Warrington, and Williams, boys receive more attention and support in the classroom compared to
girls (1999). They believe that boys and girls and have different behaviour and take different

GENDER EQUALITY WITHING THE CLASSROOM

roles in learning. (1999) When a male student demonstrates negative behavior and a teacher
jumps in to discipline, a students need for attention is met by the teachers reaction. In
comparison, their research suggests that girls are often more willing to participate, whereas boys
often require more discipline and are often seen as disruptive. They also mention that in order to
address the underachievement of some boys, the roles within the classroom needs to be
challenged. (Younger, Warrington, and Williams 1999). According to the article Gender
inequalities in education, there is an ongoing notion that teachers favor a certain sex over
another. With such stereotypes, children can begin to believe that one sex is indeed better than
the other. This can discourage students from participating and even trying in many cases.
(Buchmann. 2008) It is the role of educators to be self aware in how they act and what they say
in order to prevent any feeling of favoritism, and instead show respect and encouragement
towards all students.

Technology can be used as a resource and should be seen as an inclusive tool for teachers
to encourage participation from students. However, teachers need to reassure they include all
students. Smith, Hardman, and Higgins looked to see how interactive whiteboards influenced the
gender differences in a classroom. Their data showed that boys tend to dominate the classroom,
by making more contributions, calling out the answer and are therefore given more direction and
evaluation than girls (2007). Stereotypes suggest that boys are more technologically savvy in
comparison to girls, so interactive whiteboards in the classroom only seemed to exacerbate this
gender difference as the teaching was aimed more towards male students. (2007). It has been
proven that when a teacher is more positive and more engaging in their teaching styles with
students, that they will be able to achieve higher academic standards. By engaging in more

GENDER EQUALITY WITHING THE CLASSROOM

interactive and inclusive teaching styles, a teacher eliminates any prejudice or exclusion within
the classroom, when students feel comforted and welcomed by their teacher, they are more
willing to take in knowledge. (Beaman, 2006)
Schools also have the responsibility of breaking down barriers between gender and
sports. Women are often depicted in sports as spectators and men as the participants, therefore
this type of attitude can effect childrens views about participating in physical education. This
can severely hinder a childs perception and pushes young males to focus more on sports,
neglecting their studies, and girls to be deterred from participating in physical education and
focus more on their academic education. (Sherreen, 2003) However, when teachers include both
genders in all sporting activities, and encourage participation, this can break down those barriers
for students, and demonstrate that both boys and girls can be physically active and fit by
participating in all sports. We see how certain stereotypes can translate into adulthood in a study
done by Riegle-Crumb and Moore and their study on the gender gap in engineering courses in
Texas. Their study examined the lack of female students at the secondary and post secondary
levels, and found that many female students did not wish to continue their education within that
field because they felt the classes were not inclusive to females and did not receive support from
teachers and peers (2013). This study should serve as a way motivate teachers into proactively
integrating girls in male dominated classes, such as engineering, to help combat stereotypes and
low confidence of girls withiin male dominated courses and programs. (2013)

With different parenting styles, brings different values, behaviors, and views, which could
affect how students react with their peers and with their teachers. (Calarco, 2014) Research has
demonstrated that class and cultures, are linked to inequalities and that within social situations,

GENDER EQUALITY WITHING THE CLASSROOM

students will be subjected to such inequalities. Because different classes and cultures apply
different parenting styles, which can translate to how children act and how they are perceived by
their peers. (Calarco. 2014) An educator has the responsibility of being culturally aware and
understand the challenges and obstacles in which her students face in order to better prepare
herself to take on the challenge of helping her students to overcome adversity and achieve
success. (Lee, 2015) Schools are focusing more and more on inclusion of all cultures, making
sure no student is defined by which group they belong to. By breaking down this barrier of
ethnic division and belongingness, all students become equal. (Sherreen, 2003)
In conclusion, western societies are beginning to see a reverse in gender inequality
shifting from male-advantage to female advantage. (Fleischmann et. al., 2014). Girls are
receiving higher grades and performing better on standardized tests. Second generation children
from parents that come from countries with a strong male advantage in education, are
assimilating to these classrooms (Fleischmann et. al., 2014). These changes may be a result of
parents changing their beliefs after immigrating with the support and influence that schools and
teachers have in regards to gender patterns (Fleischmann et. al., 2014).

Word Count: 1,162

GENDER EQUALITY WITHING THE CLASSROOM

References
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Calarco, J. (2014). Coached for the Classroom: Parents' Cultural Transmission and Children's
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GENDER EQUALITY WITHING THE CLASSROOM

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