Gender (In)Equality in School, de Marta Conceiçao (Universidad de Atenas; Grecia)

Gender stereotypes are characterized as a set of beliefs and expectations about personal attributes associated with each gender. These are transmitted to children from a very early age by parents, teachers, peers, media and other socialization agents. Since school is a crucial space of socialization, it can also be a perpetuator of these types of stereotypes, mainly through two ways: 1) teachers' and students' beliefs; 2) teaching materials.

Regarding teachers’ and student’s beliefs, it has been showed that teachers encouraged boys and girls to follow different study paths – while girls were suggested careers in education, medicine, or languages, boys were suggested careers in mathematics, engineering, or technology (Heller et al., 2010). It is important to note that these incentives, clearly influenced by gender roles, were not associated with teachers' previous experiences – a study conducted with education students who had not yet started teaching showed that for girls, they associated success in mathematics mainly with effort and failure with lack of talent; on the other hand, for boys, they attributed success in the same subject to talent and failure to lack of effort. These attitudes lead to different types of feedback and treatment by teachers, which, in turn, influence students' performance, motivation, and self-concept (Lourenço et al., 2019; Kollmayer et al., 2016).

Another important factor is the teaching material, particularly textbooks, with which children and teachers interact daily. Finsterwald and Zigler (2007) analysed 28 elementary school textbooks, which contained about 300 images featuring more than 800 characters. The authors concluded that adult female characters were less represented than adult male characters. In addition, while men were more often depicted in work contexts and in more individualistic and competitive ways, women were more often depicted in family and domestic contexts. Thus, teaching materials end up transmitting socially shared stereotypes.

In order to allow students to reach their potential and follow the path they want, without being restricted by gender stereotypes, it’s urgent to use evidence-based training for teachers, as literature shows that teachers who believe that taking individual and shared responsibility on elements that can generate social transformations in regard to gender inequality promote effective pedagogical actions to denaturalize gender asymmetries and hierarchies in the classroom (Silva & Ferreira, 2019). Thereby, it’s important to promote a time and space for critical thinking and reflection, in order to allow the liberation of prejudices and stereotypes and the encounter of new ways of thinking, both for teachers and students.

 

References

Lourenço, A., Duarte, A., Nunes, A., Amaral, A., Gonçalves, C., Mota, M., & Mendes, R. (2019). PISA 2018 – Portugal. Relatório Nacional. IAVE, I.P.

Silva, E. M., & Ferreira, E. B. (2019). Os movimentos das professoras da educação básica na constituição das políticas de gênero na escola. [The movements of female basic education teachers in the constitution of gender policies at school]. Educação e Pesquisa. 45, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-4634201945200235 

Finsterwald, M., & Ziegler A. (2007). Geschlechtsrollenstereotype in Schulbuchabbildungen der Grundschule [Gender stereotypes in illustrations of textbooks for primary school]. In P. Ludwig & H. Ludwig (Eds.), Erwartungen in himmelblau und rosarot. Effekte, Determinanten und Konsequenzen von Geschlechterdifferenzen in der Schule [Expectations in blue and pink. Effects, determinants and consequences of gender differences in school] (pp. 117–142). Weinheim: Juventa.

Heller, K. A., Finsterwald, M., & Ziegler, A. (2010). lmplicit theories of mathematics and physics teachers on gender-specific giftedness and motivation. In K. A. Heller (Ed.), Munich studies of giftedness (pp. 239–252). Berlin: LIT.

Kollmayer, M., Schober, B., & Spiel, C. (2016). Gender stereotypes in education: Development, consequences, and interventions. European Journal of Development Psychology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2016.1193483