Gender Representation in Education - Literature review Example

Gender Equality and Equity in Education. Gender representation in education is an issue of great importance to academia and a lot of research has and continues be done on this issue. Researchers, feminists and theorists have done a lot on this with many statistical outcomes as well as conclusions. In the year 1948 The Universal Declaration of Human rights stated that “Everyone has the right to Education” and this was a command from the United Nations general assembly ( Sutherland, 1981, p7). It also stated clearly that people’s rights shall not be subject to distinctions like ‘Race, colour, or sex…’ This was supposed to mark a fundamental shift the rights of females when it comes to education as this would basically mean both male or female student have a right to equal treatment in education. Participation and achievement of females in certain subjects and more especially science subjects was a major issue in the 1950s since schools were divided on sex basis. Single sex schools for boys and girls tough different subjects; boys were taught more academic subjects while girls were taught subjects more inclined to femininity and the home setting. “…the advent of free education for many girls had brought nothing more than the opportunity to learn, … all those domestic skills which they could, in former times, have learnt at home.” (Deem 1978, P. 17). Male domination continued to affect every aspect of society and children were introduced to this even in the education system where the girl was seen to be just capable of learning domestic related subject which were may be thought easy to handle. Beginning in the 1970s feminists began to query the underachievement by girls in subjects such as science and mathematics. They found out that division in the curriculum was largely to blame inequalities in the education system which led to underachievement of girls in science and technical subjects and this led to educational reforms of 1988 which granted females an equal opportunity for education as males. They were therefore able to participate just like boys in the learning of all subjects including sciences. Major changes have been observed in examinations measuring the competence of students all the genders in academics and these changes are linked to the reforms brought about by the Education Act of 1988. Government has intervened significantly to ensure provision of equal education for all, and at the same time public views on gender have also changed positively. Prior of to the reforms of England’s education system, goals were socially dictated hence limiting opportunities for females who were not supposed to handle subjects perceived as being difficult. The reforms provide an opportunity for enter all levels of education and pursue career of their choice (Coffey, 2001, p. 5; Martin, 2002, p. 27). But despite these changes in policy and public view, disparities base on gender can still be observed in the science subjects as well as girls pursuing science based courses when compared to boys. Similarly there are fewer males students pursuing social subjects when compared to their female counterparts; this is attributable to stereotyping that is gender based (Bradford and Noble, 2000, p.154; Taylor, 1995, p.4). Additionally, the unchanging views on femininity also influence the general view of what careers are expected to be taken by the different genders and as such females taking up jobs perceived to be dominated by males can be viewed negatively. This can prevent people from pursuing certain job types for fear of that they may not secure a job , career growth or being discriminated in the work place( Hills, 1995, P. 51). Such perceptions lead to existence of gender gaps in academics as well career even with policies encouraging ‘equal opportunities’ in education and work promoted by government through DES; revised the educational system to give females equal play ground as males ( Gerald, et al, 2001). Changes in Academic Trends During the Implementation of the Education Reformation Act of 1988 and the School Standards and Framework Act of 1988: Possible Reasons for Changes Observed. To enable DES discharge duties effectively, roles of Local Education Authorities (LEAs) were reduced, while the importance of players like parents, teachers, students and head-educators were increased to add central government’s role of setting curriculum standards (John, 1990, P. 32). Students were thus pushed to perform better so as to secure funding and have improved status on the national tables (Arnot, et al., 1999, P. 6). A basic curriculum was developed for all schools which included religious education, core subjects and foundation subjects to be assessed through standardized tests aimed at gauging what students have learned before moving to the next stage. There were increased national standards for primary and secondary levels and restriction of partial selections based on aptitude. (Gillard, 2011; Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland School Standards and Framework Act of 1998). Options for vocational and foundational courses were introduced, broadening the curriculum to be more inclusive and improve perceptions on education as being for the rich (McVicar and Rice, 2001). There were also recommendations for equal participation of both boys and girls in the classroom interactions in order to increase confidence for teachers and learners (Howe, 1997, p. 9). These inclusive policies as well as efforts at bridging the gender gaps help improve girls’ performance in academics. Gender culture and reproduction in education. In theory both genders are capable of studying science and any subject but participating becomes an issue with females. The society still holds the old discriminative perceptions which saw the capabilities of boys and girls in education as being different. The girl was supposed to learn domestic related things while the boy takes on technical things. Science is still seen as being for boys and for a female to work in a laboratory doesn’t appear feminine. “The scientist is a man who wears a white coat and works in a laboratory… his work may be dangerous.. he is always reading a book.”(Mead and Metaux’s, 1975, p. 386-387). The reference may be quite old but depicts the picture of what a scientist is perceived to be in the modern society. Such definitions show that from a very young age we are made to think on the grounds of what is right and wrong in terms of gender roles. The gender roles are then perpetuated from families or even the society we live in. According to (Hills, 1995, p. 51) the views on the definitions of masculinity and femininity greatly affect and limit the public’s perception on which careers the different genders should take up. Females taking up jobs associated with males can be accompanied with negative connotations which can deter females from certain fields for fear. Recent trends show that boys’ performance in class has deteriorated considerably and this is particularly due to their putting less effort to studies; their consider themselves intelligent and therefore reading is left to girls who are struggling to catch up (Francis, 2006, p. 190). Males have been perceived as being superior and as such there are tendencies for them to forego schooling. According to (Cohen, 1988, p.26, and martin, 2002, p. 33). Males compensate for this emasculation by putting lesser efforts in studying, to further affirm their “inherent intelligence and talent” as well as their masculinity. There also tendencies to underestimate or overinflate ones capabilities with some females underestimating their full potential and thus take courses that are mostly dominated by women such as the humanities, social studies or health sciences, while on the other hand males overestimate their capabilities and thus choose courses that are considered to be traditionally-masculine such as engineering despite not objectively assessing their capabilities in such areas, with the end results leading to females becoming successful in their chosen field while males have higher tendencies to fail or not attain qualifications in such programs, pushing them further into underachievement (Foster, et al., 2001, p. 14). Subject Choices and Gender Split. The differences in choices of subjects observed in the different genders largely due to the social perceptions perpetuated by families and the society in terms what is expected of girls and boys. The society taught girls that their roles are supposed to be soft while males take up those difficult ones. The school arrangements before the reforms of 1988 also served to perpetuate this tendency; schools were divided with boys being taught difficult subjects while the girls were taught subjects such as midwifery and others related to the domestic setting of the home (Eccles, 1994, p593, Kim and Kim, 2003, p. 7). The disparities in terms of teachers teaching certain subjects also are responsible for the subject choices made by students; many of the teachers teaching the science subjects are male and this is intimidating to female students when it comes to choosing science subjects. Also the masculinity exhibited by males who portray themselves as being intelligent inherently and females underestimating their capabilities in the school setting is another important influence to the subject choices made (Deary and Smith, 2006, p. 463-480). Recent Trends in the Results of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) Qualifications and Changing Views Regarding Science Careers Despite the regular trend of males dominating science-oriented careers as well as the upper-tier scores in the GCSE for sciences, there have been observations on females either catching up on scores or even having higher average scores compared with the males since the early 1990’s onwards (Francis, 2006, p.187). For example, the results of the 2002 examinations showed that aside from English subjects, females also had higher grades in areas previously thought to have been male-predominated such as mathematics, business studies, design and technology, as well as science and information technology, while physics remains to be the subject that males exceeded over the females (Strand, et al., 2006, p.464). Around a decade later the results were still nearly the same, with females leading a percentage point gap by 4.9-8.6 percentage points compared to males during the years 2009/2010 to 2012/2013, which suggest an overall improved perception of females in pursuing courses initially deemed to be better-suiting for males (Department for Education, 2013a; Department for Education, 2013b). Based on these results, it can be expected that females opting for science and mathematics-oriented careers will increase in the near future. However, as with all other cognitive tests these results must not be used as solid evidences that females are consistently over-achieving whereas males are underachieving as it is possible that these results are also dependent on other factors such as the student’s socio-economic status and ethnicity (Strand, et al., 2006, p.465). It was initially thought that the predominance of male or females as teachers in male-predominating subjects can affect the future successes of each gender under these courses, and that there have been higher rates of choosing courses other than science-oriented courses due to perceptions that only highly-intelligent students can succeed in such courses (Osborne, et al., 2003, p. 26). However it was found out that more often than not the academic successes of both genders rely on the teaching qualities of these institutions, implying the greater importance given to the manner in which lessons are imparted, not necessarily on the gender of the instructors (McNabb, et al, 2002, p. 485). Also, the relevance of scientific and mathematics-related courses taken during secondary and tertiary education with regards to potential career opportunities in the future push both genders in pursuing courses in these subjects. Furthermore, the increase in positive attitude towards the significance of science to everyday living makes science and mathematics courses much more desirable for aspiring students, even more so when these people perceive these subjects to be beneficial for the UK’s health sector improvement and in economic growth and development (Orrow-Whiting, 2006, p. 38). Due to these results, as well as the changing perspectives on the selection of careers suitable for both genders, there is a perceived better outlook for females to take more careers that are predominantly-male, such as science- or mathematics-oriented careers. List of References. 1. Aikman, S., and Unterhalter, E. (2005). Beyond Access: Transforming Policy and Practice for Gender Equality in Education. Oxford: Oxfam. 2. Ammermüller, A., & Dolton, P. J. (2006). Pupil-teacher gender interaction effects on scholastic outcomes in England and the USA (No. 06-60). ZEW Discussion Papers. 3. Archer, L., and Francis, B. (2006). Understanding Minority Ethnic Achievement: Race, Gender, Class and Success. Oxon: Routledge. 4. Arnot, M., and Mac an Ghaill, M. (2006). The Routledge Falmer Reader in Gender and Education. Oxon: Routledge. 5. Arnot, M., David, M., and Weiner, G. (1999). Closing the Gender Gap: Post-War Education and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press       6. 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Debates and Issues in Feminist Research and Pedagogy. Avon: Multilingual Matters, Ltd. mb Read More