Gender Bias in Education - Essay Example

Gender Bias in Education Introduction The best way to reduce poverty and provide sustainable development among developing nations of the world is by the making huge investments in the development of Human Resources. Though the world has acclaimed the above fact yet the conditions for the development of women as regards to education and employment is still a debating issue of the current age. Thus, actions taken to eliminate poverty in a region or country can prove to be a success only of it aims at bridging the escalating gender gap as regards to right to resources and human rights. The world mist aim at promoting both economic and political freedom to the people at large irrespective of the gender roles. In turn the above freedom if made possible will certainly help in promoting total human development of the masses concerned and the upliftment of the nation as a whole. (Sharma). As regards to the development of the boys in the context of gender boas it is seen that they are being brought up with lots of expectations but are not being rightly triggered in anchoring success in education and society. The female force is found to surpass the boys in various social associations like debating clubs, student political forums and so on. Child Psychologists have recommended a late entry of boys to schools in order to cope up with the developed female force. (Mulrine) In regards to the above context the paper highlights the gender issues cropping up in different social, political and governmental systems in the current world and ways in sustaining a favorable gender system in that. Issues on Gender Equality in Education A 1960 estimate reveals that in developing countries like South Asia, Africa and Arab the primary school occupancy of girls were less than 50 percent as compared to the number of boys. By the turn of the twenty-first century considerable progress had been made in the enrollment structure of girls and boys to the primary education system worldwide. Yet it is reported that the illiteracy mark as a whole of adults and children taken together has crossed the 1 billion mark which reflects the mismanagement in the education system. (Arnott & Fennell, 19). It was seen that for a long time the enrollment statistics and pass and grade figures published were not segregated on sexual basis. Thus what was happening was a form of disguised illiteracy being advocated in the different countries. A study made in the 1970s state that the girls were becoming backward to the boys as regards to three parameters viz. numbers enrolled, days spent in schooling and pass percentage. The illiteracy factor of the female force led to the lower occupancy of women in the employment circle. Men being good educated and properly trained were found occupying secured and formal job positions as compared to low-skilled woman force occupying low paid jobs. Women bound to work in hostile conditions were often compelled to experience sexual harassment within the office. The need for women’s education was considered important for it would help in social development by encouraging family planning and control on infant mortality. It will also help harvest the full potential of woman power in the society. It is also evident that in rural and backward areas of developing continents like Africa education of pregnant girls is seen as a crime for which they are expelled from schools. (Sweetman, 10-14) A class room teaching experience in research shows that 39 percent of the teaching information was directed to boys, 29 percent to girls and the remaining to a mixed group. A feedback analysis on the information obtained by boys and girls showed that boys gave more negative feedbacks as compared to girls. Inference drawn to the above study revealed that information obtained by boys contained of procedural issues to that of girls receiving academic inputs. (Eccles & Blumenfeld, 84) A study shows that though the brain of women is 11 percent smaller to that of men’s yet they are finely structured to receive verbal information easily. This makes the female force to be taught easily than men’s. Men on the other hand excel in activities involving skills. (Mulrine, 2001) A motivational research conducted on boys and girls show that girls share a general approach to the study concerned to that of boys who share a specialist approach. The study draws inference that the girls having a wide range of interest in several subjects did not show special interest in subjects liked mathematics and science as that of the boys. (Glassgow & Hicks, 24-25) Government and Gender Issues The feminist movement in the United States of America was organized keeping in mind two objectives: helping the women force to gain access to the right employment opportunities and developing work-place conditions thereof. Rights to maternity leave and child-care opportunities fuelled the need of the feminist movement. The above movement led to the emergence of two laws in America: Title 9 of the Educational Amendments Act, 1972 and Women’s Educational Equity Act, 1975. Title 9 of the Educational Amendments Act, 1972 focused on the issue of sexual harassment of women and issued rules to stop providing funds to organizations engaged in such activity. The Women’s Educational Equity Act, 1975 aimed at creating a congenial atmosphere for the development of either gender by making ways of properly funding and designing the activities aimed at such. (Erskine & Wilson, 91-92) In context of gender issues and political interference the rise of legality of abortion after the fall of communism can be cited. The fall of the communist power in 1989 gave a sudden birth to the issue of abortion being raised by the newly formed governments of East Central Europe. The legality to the issue of abortion hinted political agitation for which issues like unification of German empire was deferred. In countries like Yugoslavia babies resulted out of rape were not accepted even by the ethnic groups. Rape was rather used as a tool by Yugoslavia in reduction of ethnic groups. In Poland however the passing of anti-abortion legislations in 1989 stirred widespread agitation from the women groups against it. Countries like Rome also evoked fear in the women community to avoid issues of abortion. The communist motive was seen as against the nature’s activities to which the emergence of socialism offers a stark contrast. (Gal & Kligman, 15, 30-31) The beginning of the twentieth century saw the rise of women activism in the war raged by middle and upper class women in countries like Europe, North and Latin America for gaining equal rights in society as their male counterparts. This struggle widened in the latter half of the century to cover global economic and social oppression on women. The struggle of women worldwide started gaining political attention leading to the ascension of such issues to the United Nations. Women groups around the world have promoted agents to raise a common voice in international organizations like the United Nations, European Union and Organization of American States. America in the 1920s saw the emergence of Inter-American Commission of Women as a result of the action of women activists for giving access to rights and in development of their national status. Similarly, the United Nations in the light of such political movements taken by women formed two new bodies like United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) to address such issues. The bodies formed were fully staffed by women. World bodies like the United Nations and the World Bank have even created offices within its charter to address feminine issues falling within its domain. Women’s International Non-Governmental Organizations (WINGOs) were formed to oversee the activities of United Nations in addressing feminine issues of national importance. (Prugi & Mayor, 3-4, 7-8) Media and Gender Issues In today’s world of visual communication a company uses the media as a tool in selling its products. Advertising agencies, as media options is often found to use the female image to sell off its clients products and to achieve rapid turnovers. The picture of women portrayed in the advertisement commercials have become of a stereotyped nature. It depicts each and every woman to be bold and extrovert in relation to the models portrayed with bold attires and appealing make up. Different commercials use women rather to fulfill the selling motives of the company’s products and services. It takes no concern while tarnishing the image of womanhood for which the need for censorship has risen as regards to advertisements. (Aruna, Kotwal & Sahni) Further, women have started to occupy senior positions in the media houses. However, the unfortunate part of the game is that the qualitative approach at looking over the female work force has still not undergone any change. The gender bias is evident in the journalism profession as regards to the gender view of the sources gathering the information. A study conducted on Gender and Media baseline in 2003 reveals that out of the 25,110 news items monitored in 12 South African countries only 17 percent of the news sources were occupied by women. Having more women in senior positions well certainly not solve the problem until the women change their own bias nature. (IPP Media). Conclusion The concept of gender bias has become a social phenomenon. It earns an age old approach from the times when there was the prevalence of a patriarchal form of society. The male creed is rather seen as the bread earner for the family while females need to look after the home chores. It is for this reason that the male needs to go for better education and formal training in contrast to the women force. This practice is still all the more relevant in developing countries in today’s date. Further, women resorting to menial and low paid jobs are often the subjects of sexual exploitation. Even, the society as a whole views the women creed as items of sexual fervor. Thus commercials explicitly using the above female image do call for limited censorship. These practices must be curbed at the very outset so as to reduce the gender bias emanating from such and in bettering up the social environment. References 1. Sharma, Geeta. “Gender Inequality in Education and Employment”. N.D.. Available At: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:lxruziEyLIsJ:www.yesweb.org/summit/sessions/op.inequality.doc+gender+and+education&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in (Accessed on September 13, 2010). 2. Mulrine, Anna. “Are Boys the Weaker Sex?” U.S. News & World Report. July 30, 2001. 131.4, pp-40-47. Available At: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Wu61gn-QZ8wJ:www.juniata.edu/faculty/cookhu/WEBCT/Gender/mulrine.doc+Are+Boys+the+Weaker+Sex%3F+U.S.+News+%26+World+Report&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in (Accessed on September 13, 2010). 3. Glassgow, Neal & Cathy D. Hicks. What successful teachers do: 91 research-based classroom strategies for new and veteran teachers, United States: Corwin Press. 2003. 4. Fennell, Shailaja and Madeleine Arnot. Gender Education and Equality in a Global Context. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2007 5. Sweetman, Caroline. Gender, Education, and Training. United Kingdom: Oxfam, 1998. 6. Eccles, S. Jacquelynne & Phyllis Blumenfeld. “Classroom Experiences and Student Gender: Are there differences and do they matter?” N.D.. Available At: http://www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu/garp/articles/eccles85b.pdf (Accessed on September 13, 2010). 7. Erskine, Sheena and Maggie Wilson. Gender issues in international education: beyond policy and practice. United Kingdom. Routledge, 1999. 8. Gal, Susan & Gail Kligman. The Politics of gender after socialism: a comparative-historical essay. United States of America. Princeton University Press. 2000. 9. Meyer, Mary & Elisabeth Prugi. Gender politics in global governance. United States of America. Rowman and Littlefield, 1999. 10. Aruna, Kotwal. Nidhi & Shradha Sahni. “Perception of Adolescents Regarding Portrayal of Women in Commercial Advertisements on T.V.” Journal of Social Sciences, 2008. 17.2, pp-121-126. Available At: http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JSS/JSS-17-0-000-000-2008-Web/JSS-17-2-089-08-Abst-Text/JSS-17-2-121-08-641-Aruna/JSS-17-2-121-08-641-Aruna-Tt.pdf (Accessed on September 13, 2010). 11. IPP Media. “More women in the media but gender bias persists” April 19, 2006. Available At: http://216.69.164.44/ipp/guardian/2006/04/19/64551.html (Accessed on September 13, 2010). Read More