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American Association of University Women (AAUW). (2012). How schools shortchange girls: Three perspectives on curriculum. In Flinders, D. J., & Thornton, S. J. (Eds.). The curriculum studies reader (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press. (Chapter 19)

Research on Curriculum

demonstrates a lack of accurate or balanced representation of women from their own perspective in texts

Design of Classroom Activities

Sex Bias & Barriers to Gender Equity

Biased in favour of boys

Problems in Student Interactions

  • 1971: study of US textbooks revealed that material on women <1% - trivialized, distorted or omitted
  • 1980: books transmit cultural & gender values to youth
  • 1986: women included in Social Studies texts were the usual "famous women" or in protest movements (rarely balanced treatment or presented from their own perspective)
  • 1989: 10 books assigned in high school English included only 1 written by a woman & none by minority members
  • 1990: texts show neglect of scholarship on women & omission of women as developers & initiators of history or technological developments
  • 1985 – 1987: Tendency to choose classroom activities that appeal to boys' interests & presentation formats where boys excel

1992: National Education Association

1984: National Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages

1990: National Education Association

Barriers to Gender Equity:

1. Students' reluctance to be singled out

2. Parents' suspicions about unfamiliar curricula

3. Teachers' lack of training

4. Unwillingness to commit funds (resources)

When boys are allowed to mistreat girls, it sends a message that girls are not worthy of respect & it’s appropriate for boys to exert power over them

Forms of sex bias in instructional materials:

1. Exclusion of girls

2. Stereotyping members of both sexes

3. Subordination or degradation of girls

4. Isolation of materials on women

5. Superficiality of attention to contemporary issues or social problems

6. Cultural inaccuracy

Forms of sex bias in instructional materials:

1. Double standards

2. Condescension

3. Tokenism

4. Denial of achieved status or authority

5. Backlash against women who succeed in improving their status

6. Divide-and-conquer strategies praising individuals as better than others in their ethnic / gender group

  • sexual harassment treated as a joke (“boys will be boys”)
  • being compared to a woman is one of the worst insults
  • when schools ignore sexist, racist, homophobic, & violent interactions…they are giving tacit approval

Teacher-Student Interactions

Males receive more teacher attention than do females.

Education Restructuring

Very few questioned whether curriculum content might be counterproductive to student achievement.

  • 1981: when calling out, boys were listened to, girls were reprimanded
  • 1985: male students demanded attention & teachers were more likely to solicit male responses
  • 1991: males receive more precise teacher comments (praise, acceptance, remediation & criticism)
  • Difference in evaluation --> feelings of learned helplessness, loss of self-confidence, powerlessness, higher expectations of failure for females

Perspective #1

  • 1980’s: only 1/138 articles on educational reform addressed sex equity
  • 1990: NEA survey found only 3 national professional development programs focused on gender & race in English & Social Studies

Perspective #2

Bringing Equity into the Curriculum

THE FORMAL CURRICULUM

THE CLASSROOM AS CURRICULUM

Successful Teaching Strategies

Style compares curriculum to architectural structure which needs windows out onto experiences of others & mirrors reflecting one's own reality & validity.

1993: McIntosh identified 5 interactive phases moving towards inclusivity

Strategies that promote gender-equitable learning environments:

1991: Wilbur recognized attributes of gender-fair curriculum

Vertical axis of winning / losing (only alternatives)

1. Womanless & All-White History

2. Exceptional Women & Persons of Color in History (from conventional perspective)

3. Women & People of Colour as Problems, Anomalies, Absences or Victims in History

Lateral & Plural Thinking

Classroom interaction determines whether or not a school becomes a community.

is the central message-giving instrument of the school, creating images of the self & the world. These images can strengthen or decrease student motivation for engagement, effort, growth & development.

1. Variation acknowledged & affirmed within groups

2. Inclusive: find & identify positive messages about self

3. Accurate: data-based & verifiable

4. Affirmative: values worth of a person/group

5. Representative: multiple perspectives

6. Integrated: weaves together experiences, needs & interests of males & females

5. History Redefined & Reconstructed to Include Us All

4. Women's Lives or Lives of People of Colour as History (daily lives)

  • Use more than 1 textbook
  • Eliminate sexist language
  • Show fairness in treatment & expectations
  • Less social comparison / competition (instead focus on empathy, collaboration & diversity of opinion)

Gender-fair impediment: inherited views of what education is & whom it should serve

What is included or excluded can be a political & divisive act.

Functioning Bodies

AAUW has been empowering women as individuals and as a community since 1881. They seek to improve the lives of millions of women and their families through:

Understanding of one’s body is central to an understanding of self.

  • New morbidities: eating disorders, substance abuse, early sexual activity, unintended pregnancy, STD's, depression, suicide (often interrelated)
  • In order to reduce the risks to teens, the difference in the needs & circumstances of girls compared to boys need to be recognized

Perspective #3

American Association of University Women (AAUW). (2019). AAUW empowers women. Retrieved from https://www.aauw.org/

THE EVADED CURRICULUM

Exploration of the BC Curriculum

Find evidence of gender-fair curriculum (Wilbur):

refers to central matters that are often ignored in educational environments

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION

Expression & Valuing of Feelings

1. Variation acknowledged & affirmed within groups

2. Inclusive: find & identify positive messages about self

3. Accurate: data based & verifiable

4. Affirmative: values worth of a person/group

5. Representative: multiple perspectives

6. Integrated: weaves together experiences, needs & interests of males & females

Is this what or how you would teach today?

What did you learn about women in high school?

By insisting on a dichotomy between feelings / emotions and logic / rationality, schools shortchange all students.

  • Classrooms must become a place where girls & boys can express feelings (pain & vulnerability), discuss personal experiences and receive help & support
  • formal curriculum
  • hidden curriculum

Gender & Power

Gender politics is often ignored, but if we do not begin to discuss more openly the ways in which ascribed power on the basis of race, sex, class, sexual orientation or religion affects individual lives, we will not be truly preparing our students for citizenship in a democracy.

Presented by Maribeth Kuo

EDCP 562 (951)

How Schools Shortchange Girls

American Association of University Women

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