8.2: Contemporary Education

Today, school settings are a key site of gender socialization. The messages children receive about appropriate behavior, attitudes, and appearance for their gender are both explicit and implicit, and come from school policies, teachers, fellow students, as well as the curriculum.

Elementary School

Student/Teacher Interactions

Male and female students typically have very different experiences in elementary schools. One notable example is the interactions between teachers and their students. Male students tend to interact with their teachers more often, and males receive more instructional attention from their teachers. This is more likely a result of male students being more demanding of attention from their teachers than female students rather than teachers intentionally investing more time into their male students’ education. For example, male students are more likely to call out answers in class, resulting in either punishment or reinforcement (both interactive) from the teacher.

There are other trends worth mentioning, as well. Teachers tend to spend more time problem solving with boys and posed more academic challenges to them. Boys were praised more often for the intellectual quality of their work, whereas girls are more often praised for being neat and polite.^{231 232} Sound unfair? I hope so! But boys are not always the beneficiaries of sex inequalities in elementary school. Boys are more likely to incur formal and informal punishments from the teacher, and their punishments are usually harsher and publicly handed out, whereas girls are awarded more “warnings” and more often afforded privacy in disciplinary actions.²³³

Curricula

During the elementary school years, girls often show lower self-esteem rates and earlier than their male peers. Some of this is attributed to the interactions between the teacher and pupil, but another major factor is women (and minorities) are widely underrepresented (and sometimes totally overlooked) in textbooks. Textbooks are powerful and authoritative because teachers, administrators, government, and other authorities approve them. As a result, elementary school children are likely to consider the way women and men are portrayed in textbooks as unquestionable and truthful. When women (or any group of people) are portrayed as unimportant or incapable by leaving them out, this sends powerful messages to kids about men and women and their roles in contemporary society.

Sex Segregation Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes

A common practice in elementary school is separating groups or participants by sex category, I.E.: boys in one line, girls in the other. Or, how many times were you separated by your sex category to play a sport in school? Or, maybe for the purpose of jobs in the classrooms? Boys lift the chairs on the desks and girls dust or water plants? Sex separation can reinforce gender stereotypes, particularly when it involved a division of labor in the classroom. In addition, separating children by sex prevents girls and boys from working together, cooperatively. This denies children the opportunity to learn about and sample one another’s interests or abilities.

Children also receive messages about sex and gender in the way adult jobs are distributed in their schools. About 97% of preschool and kindergarten teachers are female, and about 80% of elementary and middle school teachers are female.234 Women remain underrepresented in administrative and upper management positions in these schools and their districts. In 2018, 68 percent of elementary school principals were women, in public middle schools only 40 percent were women, and in public high schools only 33 percent were women.²³⁵ This shows that while women are the majority in principal positions in elementary schools, they are still largely concentrated or relegated to elementary schools. As the schools progress in age and curriculum, men still dominate the principal positions.

Secondary Schools

Dress Codes

Dress codes are one example of formal policies in schools directly shaping gender roles and ideals. Common themes in dress codes often focus on traditional examples of feminine dress, like forbidding short skirts or bra straps showing or specific body parts like no showing knees, thighs, shoulders, cleavage, or midriffs. This means body parts are being outlined as "violations". In addition, a clothing item could be a violation on one body but not on another based-on how the clothing fits. This then punishes a person based on their body not based on the specific clothing items. Some compare this kind of restriction being focused primarily on feminine dress and (assumed) girls who wear them that their bodies are objects of attraction and therefore can become distracting when even partially exposed. These rules punish the person who is being sexualized rather than the engaging in conversations with the person who is “being distracted” about respect and bodily autonomy.²³⁶ Some of these dress codes can also have the effect of regulating the dress and appearance of trans* students, as when a dress code prohibits long hair for boys, or stipulates that only (cisgender) boys may wear tuxedos to prom, and only (cisgender) girls may wear dresses.

Gender Norms and Attitudes about Academic Achievement

Research indicates girls tend to feel embarrassed or uneasy about academic success. And some girls avoid subjects considered to be “masculine” because they fear rejection from their peers. For example, girls tend to take fewer advanced mathematical and scientific courses.²³⁷ Girl’s low participation in these domains has been explained by in terms of discriminatory barriers that block girls’ paths and facilitate boys’ success. There is biased advisement in course selection in high school, and some teachers still reinforce gender stereotypes in the classroom by lending their style to “boys can, and girls can sometimes” pedagogy.²³⁸

A 2013 article by sociologist Michael Kimmel, outlines the correlations between expectations about gender norms for boys to attitudes about school. Kimmel argues that “[h]ow little they care about school, about studying, about succeeding—these are markers of manhood in peer groups of middle and high school boys across the country.”²³⁹ Kimmel then further argues part of boys' masculine display includes demonstrating a lack of interest in academic achievement. The article concludes with a call to change the messages boys receive about academic success and masculinity by making academic engagement as sign in manhood.

Sports

School sports can also allow for the maintenance of gender stereotyping and inequality. Girls are often sent the message in high school that to be athletic is to be unfeminine. And school officials reinforce this by underfunding or totally ignoring girls’ sports. I’ve had some students say, “Well, football makes money for the school!” Sometimes this is true. But why is football only for boys? And think about what the baseball field looked like compared to the softball field (another example of sex segregation). Was there a softball field? What did the baseball uniforms versus the softball uniforms look like? You might even be unable to answer this question, because maybe you never went to a softball game? Or maybe you didn’t go to either, but if you did, how often did school officials or administrators attend girls’ sports events at your school?

According to a new state-by-state ranking by the National Women's Law Center, 28% of co-ed public high schools with interscholastic sports programs have what are considered to be “large” gender disparities in access to team sports. Nearly 4,500 public high schools across the United States have large gender inequality in sports and could be in violation of Title IX. These campuses account for well over a fourth—28 percent—of the country’s public high schools.²⁴⁰

The problem of underfunding girls’ sports does not exist only within the confines of the school itself. Rather it seeps into communities, as well. Take for instance outside sponsorships for high school teams. Sponsorships affects funding for teams greatly. Teams can sell sponsorship spots during big games or receive goods from various sponsors. In the clip below, Coach John Olive explains how the majority of funding for the boys’ team at Torrey Pines High School comes from corporate sponsors and one fundraiser.²⁴¹ In fact, they’re able to raise about 2/3 of their annual budget in only a few days in their Holiday Classic tournament and they have a major sponsorship from Under Armor. Olive goes on to explain the girls’ basketball team has had to rely heavily on contributions from players’ parents. This trend is not uncommon across high school sports. The clip can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPdxnHItAcA.

The problem does not only lie in school sports; there is a huge gap remaining in professional women’s and men’s sports as well. This serves as an example for young people that women’s sports are less important than men’s sports. In a segment on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler took a Sports Illustrated NFL writer to task after he tweeted that women's sports are “not worth watching.” “Really?!” the comic duo repeatedly said, bringing up the power of tennis champ Serena Williams and winning goals in the women's World Cup. Poehler ridiculed Sports Illustrated for how its annual swimsuit edition is dedicated entirely to women who are not in sports. “Unless you think it's a sport to cover both boobs with one arm,” said Amy Poehler.

Figure \(8.2.1\): Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers. To watch the entire of this conversation with Amy Poehler click here.

College and Graduate Schools

Enrollment

College enrollment has been steadily rising in the past few decades, but recently women have outpaced men in enrollment. According to a PEW research report, in 2012 the share of women enrolled in college immediately after high school had increased to 71% from 63% in 1994. Men who enrolled immediately after high school was at 61% in 1994, and in 2012 it remained at 61%.²⁴² The graph below demonstrates differences in enrollment by sex and race. In 1994 nearly half of Hispanic males and females who graduated high school enrolled in college. Nearly two decades later, college enrollments for both groups improved, but females outpaced males. However, there is a different trend among Black high school graduates. In 1994, Black men outpaced Black women in college enrollment just after graduating from high school. But by 2012 the share of young Black men enrolled in college remained about the same, while the share of young Black women enrolled in college increased to 69%, creating a 12% gap from males.

Figure \(8.2.2\): Diagram of "Women Outpace Men in College Enrollment"²⁴³

Among Asian Americans, the share of high school graduates going to college immediately after graduation also grew during this time period for both young men and young women, but the gap is much smaller than that amoug other groups.

Degrees Conferred

The highest percentage of bachelor's degrees conferred to women in the U.S., by major are:²⁴⁴

1. Health Professions (85% women): nursing assistant, veterinary assistant, dental assistant, etc.
2. Public Administration (82%): social work, public policy, etc.
3. Education (79%): pre-K, K-12, higher education, etc.
4. Psychology (77%): cognitive psychology, clinical psychology, etc.

40-45% of the degrees in Math, Statistics, and the Physical Sciences were conferred to women in 2012, and a majority of Biology degrees in 2012 (58%) were earned by women. The largest gender gap in majors in U.S. college remains in Computer Sciences and Engineering. Computer Science and Engineering majors have stagnated at less than 10% of all degrees conferred in the U.S (with less than 20% of all of those will being awarded to women) for the past decade, while positions with programming or engineering skills remain unfilled each year.

Figure \(8.2.3\): Graph of Percentage of Bachelor's degrees conferred to women in the U.S.A., by major (1970-2012)"²⁴⁵

Reviewing the graph above, you can see dramatic increases in Psychology, Physical Sciences, Journalism, and Communication Studies since the 1970. Perhaps the most dramatic increase is in Agriculture. With only 4% of degrees conferred to women in Agrculture in 1970 and grew to an even 50% by 2012

Faculty and Administration

In addition to the gender gap in some majors, there remains a significant gap among college faculty. While women held nearly 47% of all full-time faculty positions in 2018, they held just 43% of tenured or tenure-track positions,²⁴⁶ and women were more likely to be found in lower- ranking academic positions.²⁴⁷

Woman are also overrepresented among the ranks of temporary, part-time, and adjunct faculty, they are also underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. For example, according to the Society for Women in Engineering, as of 2019, “Only 17.4% of tenure/tenure-track faculty in colleges of engineering in the U.S. are women.”²⁴⁸

In 2018-19, women made up just 43% full-time professor positions,²⁴⁹ but also held 55.7% of all instructor positions, among the lowest ranking positions in academia.²⁵⁰

In addition, raising a family more negatively impacts women’s academic career than men’s.²⁵¹ Among tenured faculty, only 44% of women were married with children, compared to 70% of men.²⁵²

Further, an analysis of 106 tenure-track positions at the University of Southern California revealed a promotion gap.²⁵³ Between 1998 and 2012, 92% of white male faculty were awarded tenure, while the same was true of only 55% of women and minority faculty.²⁵⁴

Women of color are even more underrepresented in higher academia. Asian women held 4.4% of full-time tenured and tenure-track positions, while Black women held about 3%, Hispanic women held just over 2%, and American Indian/Alaska Native women held less than 0.5% of all full-time tenured or tenure-track positions.²⁵⁵

Women have made great progress in academic leadership (even though there is still a lot of work to do to achieve equality). From 1986 to 2011 the number of women college and university presidents jumped from 10% to 26%.²⁵⁶ Women are more likely to lead two-year institutions than four-year institutions with about 33% of community college presidents being women compared to 23% of four-year instituations.²⁵⁷ During the academic year 2013-2014, 42% of new deans were women.²⁵⁸

²³¹ Golombok, S. & Fivush, R. (1994). Gender development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
²³² Delamont, S. (1996). Women’s place in education. Brookfield, MA: Avebury Publishers
²³³ Golombok, S. & Fivush, R. (1994). Gender development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
²³⁴ US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor. 2019. “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey.” https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm.
²³⁵ Taie, S., and Goldring, R. (2020). Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Teachers in the United States: Results From the 2017–18 National Teacher and Principal Survey First Look (NCES 2020- 142rev). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved [date] from https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsin...bid=2020142rev.
²³⁶ Thomas, A. (2019). The Sexualized Messages Dress Codes are Sending to Students. The Pudding.
²³⁷ Pearson, Jennifer. “Gender, Education and.” Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Ritzer, George (ed). Blackwell Publishing, 2007. Blackwell Reference Online. 31 March 200
²³⁸ Kahle, J. B., Parker, L. H., Rennie, L. J., & Riley, D. (1993). Gender differences in science education: Building a model. Educational Psychologist, 28(4), 379–404.
²³⁹ Kimmel, Michael. “Solving the ‘Boy Crisis’ in Schools.” Huffington Post, 30 April 2013. www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kimmel/solving-the-boy-crisis-in_b_3126379.html
²⁴⁰ Wong, A. (2015). Where Girls Are Missing Out on High-School Sports. The Atlantic. June 26. https://www.theatlantic.com/educatio...uality/396782/
²⁴¹ YouTube. (2014). John Olive explains how boys raise money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPdxnHItAcA
²⁴² Lopez, M and Gonzalez-Barrera, A. (2014). Women’s college enrollment gains leave men behind. PEW Research Report. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...ins-leave-men- behind/
²⁴³ Lopez, Mark Hugo and Ana Gonzalez-Barrera. (2014). Women’s college enrollment gains leave men behind. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...t-gains-leave- men-behind/
²⁴⁴ Olson, R. (2014). Percentage of Bachelor’s degrees conferred to women in the U.S.A., by major (1970-2012). https://randalolson.com/2014/06/14/p...jor-1970-2012/
²⁴⁵ Graph by Randy Olson is in the public domain
²⁴⁶ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-granting institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018). https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/...t19_315.20.asp
²⁴⁷ Ibid
²⁴⁸ Society for Women in Engineering. “Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty Levels.” https://research.swe.org/2016/08/ten...aculty-levels/.
²⁴⁹ Ibid
²⁵⁰ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-granting institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018). https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/...t19_315.20.asp
²⁵¹ Ward, K., & Wolf-Wendel, L. (2012). Academic Motherhood: How Faculty Manage Work and Family. Rutgers University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hjfsw
²⁵² Ibid
²⁵³ Jane Junn, “Analysis of Data on Tenure at USC Dornsife” (October 19, 2012).
²⁵⁴ Ibid
²⁵⁵ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-granting institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018). https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/...t19_315.20.asp
²⁵⁶ Bryan J. Cook, “The American College President Study: Key Findings and Takeaways,” American Council on Education, Spring Supplement 2012.
²⁵⁷ Audrey Williams June, “Despite Progress, Only 1 in 4 College Presidents Are Women,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 16, 2015.
²⁵⁸ “Almanac of Higher Education 2014: Background of Newly Appointed Provosts, 2013-14,” Chronicle of Higher Education, August 18, 2014; “Almanac of Higher Education 2014: Background of Newly Appointed Deans, 2013- 14,” Chronicle of Higher Education, August 18, 2014.