Essay about Gender Equity in Education

Epstein, Richard. "Women don't need Title IX anymore, and men are hurt by it" Fulton County Daily Report. LexisNexis (November 4, 2002)

When you send your children off in the morning to go to school, no matter what grade they are in whither it be elementary, junior high, or senior high, you expect that they will receive the best education that they can get. They should be asked challenging questions, encouraged and called upon to participate in class, they should also be given as much help as they need to secede by the teacher. However, this is most commonly not the case. Parents and the children themselves are unaware of what is going on because gender bias is not a noisy problem. Most people are unaware of the secret sexist lessons that occur every day in classrooms across the country. In this essay I will use two essay's from the reader:

Gender differences occur in many aspects of a person’s life whether it is culture, politics, occupation, family and relationships, or the economy (just to name a few). One major difference in gender occurs in learning and education in the elementary and secondary levels. Research has found that males and females learn differently in many aspects of education. First of all, female and male brains are constructed differently affecting the way they learn; this leads to basic differences in learning and also gives an introduction into why the way one learns differs according to gender and how males and females learn subjects and tasks differently. Second, males and females are treated differently, sometimes unconsciously, in educational

Whether a person looks at achievement scores, curriculum design, or even the most basic of all, teacher and student interactions, it is clear that gender makes a tremendous difference in the nations public elementary and secondary schools. Our schools have a responsibility to prepare both boys and girls for full and active roles in the family, the community and the work force. Whether we look at these issues from a political, economical or social perspective, it is essential to remembers that girls are one half of our future. As educators, it is critical to move our daughters and sisters from the back of the classroom, to the center and front. We must give them the knowledge and courage to fly. To fly meaning, the self-esteem and encouragement and also the curriculum that does not reinforce the message: A womans place is in the kitchen. We must give our daughters the power to break racial and gender barriers and capability in educating ones self in a

Men and women have equal opportunities in school, regardless of the type of education pursued. In my experiences in school, I have never witnessed limits or restrictions set on young boys that young girls do not have as well. I have never witnessed gender specific classes nor have I witnessed any differences in the type of education allowed to both men and women. Female-favored curriculum is not the cause of a women dominated schooling system; it is, as I have observed and inferred, differences in interests and fundamental nature. Men tend to be toward the extremes when it comes to testing, resulting in more students who give up on school, while women tend to test more toward the middle, resulting in more consistent outcomes (Hulbert 415). The average student would love to go to college. The benefits of college, including receiving a higher paying career, definitely outweigh the negatives. For this reason, consistent test scores from women result in numerous college-pursuing women. However, for every genius man there is also a high school failure, causing an absence of men in the bachelor’s degree club. Men and women are two different species, and it shows when related to education.

Gender equality is a broad topic with many different angles that can be examined. For my part in

It is now agreed that schools and teachers play a crucial part in replicating and strengthening gender inequalities. A recent study of educators, however, shows that there was a general lack of awareness with respect to the concept of gender and ways in which gender operates in the educational process and that these concerns were not being addressed in teacher training institutions The type of school also had an effect on these outcomes; in all girls schools the performance levels of the girls are higher compared to that of coed schools. I think this is because the girls will focus more without the distraction from their inter-action with the boys (i.e. the visits to the restroom to repair make-up to impress their male counterparts will be less, there will be no intimate involvement) and also females tend to be more competitive even among themselves. In the schools located in the inner city communities, there tends to be much lower rates of participation and performance by both boys and girls. A girls’ motivation to achieve far exceeds that of boys. Marginalized females will place importance on education and do their utmost to be successful at all costs. Most females with disability and other females from the inner-city community when given the opportunity do extraordinarily well to prove their worth to society.

After many years focusing on female’s in education more recent studies have indicated that boys have actually suffered and are now in positions of disadvantage. This is indicated by retention rates, delinquency and learning difficulties (Yates in White and Wyn 1998, p.25). One explanation for this is that by the increase of women participating in education and their expressed enjoyment of it, the men are then associating education with femineity. Where strong gender roles of masculine and feminine exist, this then impacts male choices to participate in an activity that they

In the 21st century, many people believe that we have overcome the obstacle of gender inequality and evolved into a society of fairness and righteousness. As many know, females can be just as proficient and qualified as males at any task. Though some efforts to off-set this gender imbalance is in place, it is still commonly acknowledged that many careers are stated to be a male job such as lawyers, and female jobs such as secretaries. Gender inequality is a visible fact in our society and in this essay, I hypothesize that gender inequality still exists as a result of factors such as post-secondary education differences of the two genders, role of females in families, female objectification, career choice differences of the two genders, and

In July 1970, Edith Green (D-Oregon) was the first member of Congress to hold hearings on sex discrimination in education. The following year, five bills were introduced to ban sex discrimination in all educational facilities that receive federal funds. A House-Senate conference committee ironed out the differences between the House and Senate education bills,

The disparity between the achievements of males and females has been a concerning issue in education since the day girls were required to go to school. Ideally, as a whole, students belonging to either gender should perform equally well in their studies, but rarely has that ever happened. Boys traditionally performed better than their female peers because it was once normal for them to receive an education while girls stayed at home. Recently, however, a different trend has occurred in gender achievement. On average, “In high school, girls get higher grades in every subject, usually by about a quarter of a point, and have a higher median class rank” (Brooks 410). This sudden shift has prompted many concerned parents to wonder whether school curriculums have been recently designed to interest girls, while ignoring what boys like in the process. Although it is easy to blame the public school system for catering to girls, they are not the immediate problem; the expectation for boys to pursue certain interests is the reason for the achievement gap.

“It is early indeed that children show an awareness of the message that… females are generally less interesting and important than males are… The (often inadvertent) bearers of this message include parents, peers, and teachers.” (Lips, 1979, p. 128.) The absence of gender equity can be damaging to both males and females. Surprisingly most of the teachers and administrators are unaware of this problem. Organizations such as the American Association of University Women (“Gender equity,” 2003.) strive to create programs that will improve equality within schools. The purpose of this research paper is to identify gender equity issues in the classroom and explore strategies for teachers to incorporate equitable

The gender gap has been a concern for decades, it used to be that females lagged behind males when it came to academic achievement. Females now outperform males academically and are more likely to obtain college degrees and enroll in graduate school despite the gender inequalities that remain in American society. The underachievement of females has diminished if not vanished due to the focus of the United States for the past 30 years to close the gender achievement gap. Yet, the concern in the most recent years has been both the lower performance of girls in mathematics and science and now males’ underperformance in most academic areas (Del Rio & Strasser, 2012). Why is it that despite that females and males attend the same educational environment, males are having a hard time keeping up and females continue to be less likely to take advanced math or science classes or enroll in science and math related careers?

In the past the education has been dominated by the male, but as of late the female has become the new face of the scholar. In the feminist push for gender equality the male has been left to fend for himself in the public school environment. There is evidence saying that women are reading more than men, the first part of the problem. Another underlying cause is that the public school system is not geared to promote male interest in reading or education. Also with the spotlight being shined on female success the males are often left in the dark. These factors have contributed to the large gap in education between genders in the public school system.

This essay will examine the inequality in education that is present in our society in accordance with sex and gender. In recent years, females have been outperforming males in all subject areas. The term sex refers to the biological characteristics of a person’s body that makes them either male or female while gender refers to someone being masculine or feminine. (Stoller 1968, p.9) This essay will demonstrate why males are underachieving in the education system looking at it in terms of gender and sex differences and how they impact that. That will be followed by other factors affecting this result. Then, a few different perspectives on education will be looked at.