Gender role stereotypes and education<\/p>\n
The following article is an excerpt from a paper titled Gender
\nRole Stereotypes and Education written by Evelyn Suleeman, a
\nresearcher and lecturer based in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Women and men are assumed to have different
\ntraits. For example, women are said to be weak, incompetent,
\ndependent, irrational, emotional, and sneaky, whereas men are
\nconsidered strong, independent, rational, logical, and direct.<\/p>\n
Women and men are also assumed to be equipped for different
\noccupations. Firefighter, politician and doctor are known as male
\nprofessions, while nurse, kindergarten teacher, and secretary are
\nseen as female jobs. These stereotypes are transmitted from
\ngeneration to generation.<\/p>\n
Educational institutions have become more and more responsible
\nfor socializing children, for which parents were mainly
\nresponsible before mass education was introduced. Moreover,
\nchildren are entering the formal school system at ever decreasing
\nage. Thus, socialization through education has become
\nincreasingly important, including socialization of gender roles
\nand values.<\/p>\n
Studies have found that school textbooks consist of rigid
\ngender role stereotypes (Jollnick, Sadker and Sadker, 1982;
\nLindsday 1990; Sitepu, 1994; Wullur, 1995). The effect of these
\nrigid gender role stereotypes prevents children from developing a
\nsense of shared human identity and potential (Oakley, 1972). The
\nteacher as a part of the school system is also an agent of
\nsocialization, including on gender roles (Guttentag and Bray
\n1977).<\/p>\n
When rigid gender roles are consistently socialized through
\nschool textbooks and teachers, the achievement patterns of boys
\nand girls in high school are different. Another impact of
\nsocialization of gender role stereotypes is reflected in the
\nchoice students make regarding their fields of study in high
\nschool and tertiary education.<\/p>\n
In this study the three issues -- gender role stereotypes in
\nschool textbooks, the role of the teacher in gender role
\nsocialization, and gender differentials in choice of study field
\n-- will be discussed.<\/p>\n
There are many different kinds of materials available for
\nclassroom use. Instructional materials are the base of most
\nclassroom teaching. The American National Education Association
\nlists 24 different kinds of instructional materials, i.e.
\ntextbooks, workbooks, pamphlets, anthologies, encyclopedias,
\ntests, supplementary books, paperbacks, program instructional
\nsystems, dictionaries, kits of realia, learning games,
\nfilmstrips, audio and video tapes, slides, globes, manipulative
\nobjects, and graphic items such as cards, posters, maps, and
\nphotographs. Compared to other instructional materials, the
\ntextbook is the most important instructional material used in
\nclassroom teaching (Gollnic, Sadker, and Sadker, 1982).<\/p>\n
Lindsey's study in 1972 found that women are underrepresented
\nin textbooks for elementary schools. Fifteen years later, in
\nanother study she came to the conclusion that the content of
\ninstructional materials regarding gender roles had not changed
\nmuch.<\/p>\n
These materials continue to present traditional gender roles.
\nWomen and girls are still portrayed as dependent, cooperative,
\npassive, submissive, and nurturing, while boys are presented as
\nindependent, creative, explorative, aggressive and active
\n(Lindsey 1990:209).<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, two studies about gender roles in elementary
\nschool textbooks mentioned by Supolo (1996) and Wullur (1995)
\nfound a similar bias. It is assumed that the Indonesian textbooks
\nfollowing the 1994 curriculum, still display a considerable
\nmeasure of gender bias. Since young children are most susceptible
\nto receive the rigid portrayal of gender roles in school
\ntextbooks (Oakley, 1992), the following is primarily based on an
\nevaluation of textbooks used in the first grade of primary
\nschool.<\/p>\n
There are six different kind of textbooks available for first
\ngrade primary school pupils, i.e. civics, Indonesian language,
\nhandicraft and music, health and sports, religion, and
\nmathematics. The books are printed by various publishers, but
\nthose published by the Department of Education and Culture are
\nrequired textbooks.<\/p>\n
For the examinations held every three to four months, the so-
\ncalled Evaluasi Hasil Belajar, a summative text is used, which is
\nbased on the contents of the required textbooks. Therefore,
\ndiscussion below is limited to these textbooks only.<\/p>\n
In textbooks, women and men figure in different roles and
\nactivities. Overwhelmingly, women are portrayed as mothers. In
\nher role as a mother, her activities described are cooking,
\nwashing dishes, cleaning the house, sewing. In contrast, men read
\nnewspapers and go to work. Mothers neither go to work nor read
\nnewspapers, while the fathers never do the cooking nor wash
\ndishes.<\/p>\n
How such images are transmitted can be seen in the following
\nexamples. The first is taken from the Indonesian language
\ntextbook (Thachir 1996a:44) and the second from the maths
\ntextbook (Seputra and Amin 1996:89):<\/p>\n
Please fill in the blanks for the words to become complete:
\nmother coo.. cook; father e.ts Father eats Father went fishing.
\nHe brought 30 fishes. Mother fried 10 fishes. How many fishes are
\nleft?<\/p>\n
Unlike boys, girls are always described as helping their
\nmother. They do household chores and go to the market. Boys
\nfollow adult men to the river or go fishing. In an exercise about
\nhobbies in the 1B Indonesian language textbook, pupils are asked
\nto choose between 17 pictures and point out the picture(s) that
\nreflect their hobby or hobbies. Of the 17 children in the
\npictures, only six are girls. They read a book, sing, do the
\ngarden, cook, dance and go sight-seeing.<\/p>\n
The boys in the other 11 pictures fish, draw, swim, play
\nchess, play football, play guitar, ride a bicycle, play
\nbadminton, watch TV and play with a kite (Thachir 1996b: 100-
\n103). The message communicated to girls is that they have a more
\nlimited range of hobbies than boys and have less freedom to
\nexpress their hobbies.<\/p>\n
If women and men are portrayed in the workplace, they appear
\nin different jobs. Again looking at the Indonesian language
\ntextbook (Thatcher 1996b:4-5) we see 11 pictures of people at
\nwork, only 3 of them presenting a female worker. Their jobs are
\ntypical "female jobs": modiste, nurse and teacher. The men
\npictured are a carpenter, a taxi driver, a fisherman, a
\npoliceman, a postman, a doctor, a soldier, and a farmer. The
\nimplicit message is that men have access to a greater range of
\noccupations than women. Another example of this is found in the
\nfollowing exercise (Thachir 1996b:6):<\/p>\n
Please form a sentence with the following words:
\nGoes-to office-father; Aunt-cake-makes<\/p>\n
Today, in real life, some men enter "female" jobs such as
\nnursing or pre-school teaching and many wash dishes, cook meals,
\nand go to the market. But textbooks do not depict them. On the
\nother hand, women become policewomen and doctors. Thus, textbooks
\ntend to picture women and men in gender role stereotypes instead
\nof presenting them as multidimensional human beings.<\/p>\n
Such stereotyping denies the reality of individual differences
\nand hampers children's understanding of the complexity and
\ndiversity the exists within society at large and within groups.
\nObviously, textbooks fail to reflect accurately the contemporary
\nand changing nature of men and women's roles. Gollnick, Sadker,
\nand Sadker (1992) call this an unreality bias.<\/p>\n
Studies cited by these same authors show that when children
\nhear or read words such as father, mother, man, woman, they may
\nnot form images of all people. Rather, they take the terms
\nliterally, when they read he and man, they think "male". This
\nalso applies to occupation terms. When children read father goes
\nto office and aunty makes cake, they may think that women never
\ngo to office, or, vice versa, men never make cakes. As a result,
\nthey may consider a wide range of occupations and activities as
\ninappropriate for women.<\/p>\n
Sports, games<\/p>\n
Sports and games are also gender biased. Young girls and boys
\nare organized to play different games and sports. In most
\ntextbooks girls are absent in pictures of physical exercise and
\ngames. If they are pictured, they play games that are relatively
\nsimple and have rules, like skipping, which does not require any
\nteam effort and is minimally competitive.<\/p>\n
A sport considered appropriate for girls is kasti (a ball game
\nsimilar to baseball). Meanwhile, a popular sport for boys is
\nfootball. It emphasizes a strong need for intrateam cooperation,
\nstrategy development, and interteam competition.<\/p>\n
The effects of male participation in team sports is described
\nby Chafetz (1994) as follows: "... in team activities a boy
\nIearns group procedures and practices which he can later apply to
\nrole performance. Thus ... team activities develop social
\ninitiative in males" (Chafetz 1974:80). This statement is
\nsupported by a study conducted by Hennig and Jardin (1979) who
\nfound that differences in girls and boys' childhood games and
\nactivities may prevent girls from developing certain skills,
\nattitudes, and work styles that are so important for achievement
\nin the business world.<\/p>\n
Gollnick, Sadker, and Sadker report that several studies
\nconcluded that multicultural and nonsexist reading materials have
\na positive effect on children's attitudes toward minority group
\nmembers, and on girls and boys who demonstrate nonstereotyped
\nbehavior.<\/p>\n
Another study they mention conveyed that girls and boys in
\ngrades one to five developed less stereotyped attitudes about
\njobs and activities after reading about people who successfully
\nfought gender discrimination in the workplace and entered jobs
\nnot traditionally associated with their gender.<\/p>\n
Teacher as mediator<\/p>\n
There is a trend for girls' IQ scores to decline in late
\nadolescence and early adulthood. The achievements of girls who
\nwere generally excellent students in elementary school drop.
\nMaccoby found that the scholastic accomplishments of girls in
\nhigh school begin to decline in areas such as reading and
\nwriting, but especially in mathematics, while boys begin to excel
\n(Lindsey, 1990).<\/p>\n
Based on the findings that boys and girls enter kindergarten
\nwith similar levels of intelligence, motoric skills, perceptual
\nperformance, and patters of reasoning as measured by tests,
\nresearchers started to look at the influence of teachers on boys
\nand girls abilities (Guttentag and Bray, 1977; Sitepu 1994).<\/p>\n
Teachers perceive boys and girls differently and think they
\nwant to be treated differently. Scanzoni and Scanzoni (1981)
\ncalled the messages the attitudes and expectations of teachers
\ntransmit to boys and girls that reinforce traditional gender role
\nstereotypes, "the hidden curriculum".<\/p>\n
For example, Guttentag and Bray observed that teachers in
\nfourth and sixth grade classrooms interacted more with boys: boys
\nwere more often approved and disapproved of, instructed and
\nlistened to than girls. Scanzoni and Scanzoni (1981) made a
\nsimilar observation: teachers tend to praise boys more than girls
\nfor similar achievements.<\/p>\n
Teachers talked more with boys about the subject matter,
\nlistened better to their complaints and questions, and praised
\nthem the most for intellectual competence, while girls were
\npraised less for intellectual achievements and more for qualities
\nsuch as neatness, completeness, and turning in assignments on
\ntime (Lindsey 1990). A study of bright children cited by Popenoe
\n(1983) found that the more intelligent a boy was, the better he
\nexpected to perform a given task.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the more intelligent a girl was, the less well
\nshe expected to do. Since teachers assume that girls love reading
\nand hate mathematics and sciences, they discourage girls from
\ntaking science and math. Teachers expect the opposite of boys and
\ntherefore encourage them to take these subjects (Chafetz, 1974).<\/p>\n
Gender biased attitudes of teaching personnel seem to start at
\nthe very moment children enter kindergarten. Teachers encourage
\nthe children to play with the toys that are considered
\nappropriate for their gender. Girls play with beauty kits, the
\nminikitchen is reserved for them as well as miniature household
\nimplements. Boys play with trucks, tractors, building materials,
\ntoy soldiers, and guns. Playing with toys prepares children for
\nadult roles, so girls are being trained to be mothers, helpmates,
\nand homemakers.<\/p>\n
They are also encouraged to take care of their appearance. On
\nthe other hand, boys are encouraged to explore a myriad of
\noccupational possibilities, and to develop their bodily strength
\nand coordination.<\/p>\n
The head of a playgroup in Jakarta said that she never forbade
\nher playgroup children from playing with "reverse" toys, but
\nclaimed that the parents demanded that the teachers push the
\nchildren to play with the toys considered appropriate for their
\ngender.<\/p>\n
Teachers also force students to "behave" according to their
\nsex as is illustrated by Parker (1993). Three teachers reported
\nto her on separate occasions that her daughter climbed trees.
\nAfter the second report she realized the problem was that the
\nchild's private parts were above the heads of the onlookers.
\nGirls are also discouraged from using foul language and saying
\n"bad words". A female primary school teacher in Jakarta said that
\nshe would reprimand girls if they did so, while she would allow
\nher male students say anything they liked.<\/p>\n
"Because they are boys", she explained during an interview
\n(28 July, 1996). Not only children's behavior is controlled by
\nteachers, but also the way they dress. A playgroup teacher told
\nus that a girl who liked to wear pants rather than a skirt was
\nreminded every day of the fact that she was a girl, implying she
\nshould were a skirt or dress.<\/p>\n
The girl finally complied and came "properly" dressed to the
\nplaygroup. Meanwhile, a study cited by Scanzoni and Scanzoni
\n(1981) showed that recent changes in dress codes which allow
\ngirls to wear slacks are the most decisive factor in encouraging
\ngirls to engage in boys' activities such as climbing trees and
\nrunning.<\/p>\n
The article has appeared in a book titled Benih Bertumbuh
\nKumpulan Karangan untuk Prof. T.O. Ihromi.<\/p>",
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