Chapter 4 Gender discrimination biology Educational approaches culture

Sexism and gender discrimination Brain storm: Please list the phenomenon of gender discrimination in our society.

Sexism and gender discrimination In workplaces In families In school

Sexism and gender discrimination Jobs: different genders tends to choose different occupations

Sexism and gender discrimination Wages and salaries: Females get lower income than males while doing the same work.

Sexism and gender discrimination women's choices that contribute to their lower incomes: (2) Income is always determined by men who have power in workplaces. (3)Women make the gender workplace choice to often avoid physical jobs. (1) Mothers drop out for baby and children (5)Earning power has been and is much more a cultural goal for men than for women (4)Women have more often chosen advanced degrees that result in lower-paid people-helper jobs such as therapists than higher-paid business executives with MBAs. (6)Entrepreneurial women in fields such as private-practice psychotherapist will, on the average, choose to charge less and thus make less than their male counterparts.

Sexism and gender discrimination In families: Traditionally, wives are expected do more even all housework and have responsibilities to take care of children. Usually, husbands have more power of financial control than wives. Girls and boys have different positions in families. Sometimes boys have more opportunities to get better education. Often parents give higher expectation to boys than to girls.

Sexism and gender discrimination In schools and classrooms: Boys have higher academic expectation than girls in math, science and management subjects. Boys usually get more chance to correct mistakes and more encouragement when the teacher is female. Boys and girls have different expected behaviors in schools, so boys often get more tolerance.

Problem1: sexual harassment Jenny Reid is a middle-school teacher in a suburb of Atlanta. Her sixth-grade students are primarily majority group students from middle-class backgrounds. The children in her class are good students, well motivated, and reasonably well behaved. Her only discipline problem is the excessive teasing that some of the boys in the class impose on the girls. Near the end of recess, Amy Hotchkiss approaches Ms. Reid, obviously very upset. Amy is one of the more physically mature girls in the class. She is one of a half dozen in the class who has started wearing a bra. Angry and trying to control her temper, she whispers rather loudly that Eric, Darren, Kevin, and Myles have been teasing some of the girls, calling them names and making reference to their physical development. In addition, they have been running up to the girls wearing bras and pulling at the elastic in the back. "What are you going to do to them?" she asks. Is this incident simply a schoolboy prank, or is this sexual harassment? Should the boys involved be punished? If so, what should the punishment be? Should Ms. Reid turn the incident into a learning situation for the entire class? If she does so, how should she do it? What can the class learn from the incident?

Problem2: sexual orientation Maureen Flynn is a third-grade teacher in a suburban public school. Each year, she looks forward to Parent's Night, when she can meet the parents of her students. As she inspects her room one final time, the door opens and two nicely dressed women appear. "Good evening," they say, almost in unison. "Good evening. Welcome to the third grade. I'm Maureen Flynn." "We're Amy Gentry and Kirsten Bowers. We're Allison Gentry-Bower's mothers." "Oh," says Ms. Flynn, trying not to show any surprise. "Let me show you some of Allison's artwork and where her desk is." The next morning as class begins, Colleen Burke blurts out, "Miss Flynn, my mommy said that Allison has two mommies. How can that be? How can anyone have two mommies? Everyone is supposed to have a father and a mother." All of the students look to Ms. Flynn for her response. What should Maureen Flynn's response be to Colleen's question? Should she just evade the question? Should she use the opportunity to discuss alternative family structures?

Discussion Why is it difficult for men, sometimes even for women, to see that males have a privileged position in society?

Women rights movements

Federal Civil Rights Legislation Civil rights legislation has historically served as a powerful agent for effecting social change and attitudes. While such legislation is often opposed by some, eventually it is accepted as a societal norm by most. Much of the Civil Rights legislation in the U. S. is patterned after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race, color and national origin discrimination. Title IX in 1972 prohibited sex discrimination in federally assisted education programs. Section 504, or the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, prohibited disability discrimination. In 1975 the Age Discrimination Act was passed, and in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibited disability discrimination by public entities.

sex What’s the physical differences between males and females.

Sex Psychological and cognitive difference between males and females

Sex and gender Sex is biologically determined. Chromosomes determine how one is born. Gender is socially determined. Gender is what society thinks males and females should be and how they should behave.

Impact of perceived differences on sex

Educational implications Public education should be free of gender bias.

Two approaches: women’s studies Nonsexist or gender sensitive education

Women’s studies Recording and analyzing the historical and contemporary experiences of women in curriculum. Concepts of consciousness-raising; View of women as a separate group with unique needs and disadvantages in schools. Examining the culture ,status, development, and achievement of women as a group.

Gender Bias? Questions : Ms Gregg, a second-grade teacher, gave her students the materials and instructions on how to make Thanksgiving hats. During the session, Sara made a hat similar to the ones the boys were making. Ms. Gregg’s aide Debbie, took a pair of scissors and cut the hat down in size to closer resemble the hats the girls were making for themselves. Debbie thought she was being helpful and Sara did not seem to mind. No one in the class seemed disturbed by this. Ms. Gregg, however, was concerned. Questions : Was Debbie showing the class that only boys can do certain things, make things in a particular way? If this bothered no one, why should it bother Ms. Gregg? Can she make a lesson out of this without hurting Sara or Debbie, who meant no harm?

Gender-sensitive education Present a view of the world that includes women and men and their perspectives. Provide each student with the opportunity to reach his or her potential. Allow women to be heard and to understand the legitimacy of their experiences as females. Eliminate the power relationships based on gender in the classroom. offer factual information on homosexuality.

Can single-sex schools solve the problem? Why boys perform better than girls in science,mathematics,and technology? Can single-sex schools solve the problem? Single-Sex Schools   What is your opinion about same-sex schools. Why? What might be the academic affects, the social affects, and the emotional affects?

what do you know about Title IX? “Athletic competition builds character in our boys. We do not need that kind of character in our girls.” A Connecticut judge, 1971. “No person in the United shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. From the preamble to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

Effects of Title IX Today, the majority of students in America’s colleges and universities are women. They make up the majority of students receiving master’s degrees. Today women are admitted into law schools on an equal basis as men. In general the academic achievement of women in law schools exceed that of men with indicators such as G.P.A. and law review. They are offered more job interviews than male graduates are, but males receive more job offers.

Other Title IX Effects Increased visibility of women as role models and heroines. Sports heroines Female astronauts

conclusion