How Does Gender Affect Teaching?
When I think of a teacher the image is usually a female. The same way when I think of a nurse, the image is typically a female. This is because in any care-taking type role the dominant attribute is nurturing. A nurturing person is typically related to a mother. So yes, I do think Gender affect teaching because of this kind of bias. I think of the podcast we listened to where she pointed out how hard these truths can be. The truth that hard work is not valued over these biases. The thing that struck me most was the fact that women are only given positions of power when a company is failing. So really it seems like a lose lose situation. If she fails well she could not save the company. If she succeeds there is no way it was because she was a female. It are these thoughts and ideas that limit female power. I think that while there are female teachers in droves, there is still a wage gape there is still gender inequality. This shows up in the positions of power in education. The system is flawed, it is flawed to favor men in positions of power. I think if there were more women superintendents we would be able to have a different perspective. The same way that if there were more men teaching they would offer different perspectives. It is easy to place people in categories that seems to be appropriate, but I believe it limits us and does not allow for growth. When people stay close minded they are opting out of curiosity and learning. If teachers, boards, principals, superintendents etc. are unwilling to change then what kind of example are they setting for students who are learning?
Hi Lauren, a lot of people tend to describe women as being nurturing, and therefore place women under the umbrella of teaching and nursing, and while such traits can be deemed as positive/complimentary by many, it can also place women in a difficult position. I say this because women are always held to a higher standard in any and every area of life, and therefore when they don’t meet such standards and expectations placed by others, they’re automatically made to be the bad guy. Contrary to men where they’re always given a free pass and praised for doing the bare minimum. It’s unfortunate that most industries tend to be male dominated, but even when they’re female dominated industries like the teacher industry, women are still not represented in the higher up positions, because they’re not provided with the same opportunities, resources, and treatment that their male counterparts are. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this industry is very poorly paid and female driven and that’s a sad thing to say. The education system has a clear problem of gender inequality amongst many other issues, and like you mentioned, the system is unfortunately built to favor men in positions of power. Thank you for sharing, and for discussing the clear flaws within the education system.
ReplyDeleteHey Lauren,
ReplyDeleteIt's honestly sad seeing the schooling system has failed women. I honestly think that men and women should get the same treatment. Like you said most of the time men get the "free pass" when it comes to things in general, but women are not even allowed to make a simple mistake, they'll be labelled as "careless" or anything you can think of. I hope we get to see more women in higher positions.
Hi Lauren, I like how you started off by saying that the two jobs that come to mind when anyone thinks of an occupation that is more populated by females is nursing and teaching. I agree that this is very true, and I never realized before that the reason this is true for teachers is because women tend to be the nurturer in children’s lives. Just because female teachers are seen as the ones who should take care of the younger students, male teachers shy away from teaching, especially in elementary schools. You tend to notice that in higher grade levels like middle school and high school that male and female teachers do not get the same respect because of the students lack of experience with male teachers. This is still a problem today. I agree that if women were in higher positions, there would be a different perspective to entire school districts, the same way as if there were more male teachers, there would be a different perspective in the classroom.
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