Gender (In)Equality?

It seems as if there is always a "topic of the moment" in education - whether it is racial, gender, or socioeconomic status. Each of these issues undoubtedly exist in society and in the educational system, but does focusing on one area take away from the others? Does focusing on race issues, including immigration status and minority issues, take away from students who do not belong to those groups? Does focusing on providing an equal opportunity for kids living in poverty take away from those who are not? Has a focus on providing equal opportunity for girls left us with a class of disadvantaged and mislabeled boys? These are the questions that we must seek to address if we are to provide an equal and effective education for all. 

There is no doubt that women and girls have been discriminated in the past in all areas of civic life - education, the workplace, and the political arena to name a few. Discrimination against women and girls was not only accepted but lawful - at the time of the Seneca Falls convention in 1848 women had no right to an education, to vote, to own property, to hold political office, or even to keep the wages she herself earned when married. Although these laws seem to us as distant as the Dark Ages - are men and women, boys and girls, treated equally in our nation's school system?

 Like most topics in education, and probably any other field, evidence can be found to support both sides of the issue - that gender bias exists, and that it does not. Additionally, there are some that even argue the notion that girls are given more favorable treatment, and that boys are the ones being unfairly discriminated against. How exactly would this be measured? Through grades, graduation rates, standardized test scores? Without a doubt each one of these measurements would be criticized as an unfair an inaccurate view of education.

 I can speak from my own personal experience, both as a student and as a teacher - but my experiences must be viewed through the lenses of my own gender and any biases that may entail. As a child, I never felt any bias against or for me as a female, although I probably was not concerned with it either. I do believe that overall, teachers expect girls to be better behaved and perform better academically, and that a "boys will be boys" mentality exists when boys misbehave. I have found that I have to take steps to not fall into this thinking pattern, as I have found myself with some of these same expectations in my own classroom.  

An issue that I feel does occur in the education setting is the funneling of boys and girls into certain academic subjects and subsequently career paths. Although I do not think this is done with malice, or to intentionally stereotype, it can still have detrimental effects. I remember a few years ago during our annual frog dissection I had one student, female, who was carrying out her dissection with razor sharp precision. I commented to her that she would make an excellent surgeon, maybe a cosmetic surgeon, and she looked at me and said "Me?! A doctor?!" I couldn't help but realize that I had never told a girl student that before, I had never even discussed science careers with a female student. Now I consider myself to be a feminist, but am I falling victim to the male dominated thought pattern?

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