Volume 1: Gender and the College Classroom, Part II
Women now constitute a majority of undergraduate students in America's colleges and universities (Gabriel & Smithson, 1990). Numbers from the Graduate College indicate that at the University of Arizona, in the Fall of 1995, there were 1,436 male and 1,791 female master's students, and 1,822 male and 1,282 female doctoral students. For many reasons, it behooves us as faculty to consider what factors impact the learning environment for female students.
I. Terms
Gender discrimination is the overt denial of opportunity for access and/or participation based on gender. Gender bias is the underlying network of assumptions and beliefs that males and females differ in systematic ways other than physically, such as in talents, skills, or aptitudes. Gender bias is more subtle, more difficult to identify, and probably more pervasive in classrooms at all levels. Gender equity is the process of working to enhance the aspirations, achievements, talents, and interests of all students, independent of their gender (Streitmatter, 1992).
II. Self-Quiz (Condensed from Grossman & Grossman, 1994)
- Do I provide the same amount and kind of help to all students regardless of gender?
- Do I coach males more than females by asking guiding or probing questions when their answers are not correct?
- Do I criticize females’ and males’ academic work with the same degree of objectivity and frankness?
- Am I more likely to ask females easy questions that require factual answers and reserve more difficult questions that involve critical thinking for male students?
- Do I attribute the cause of students’ poor performance accurately, or am I more likely to attribute males’ poor performance to lack of interest or effort and females’ poor performance to lack of ability?
- Do I make eye contact equally with male and female students?
- Do I create an environment in my classroom where female students can feel comfortable being assertive, competitive, and taking risks?
- Do I use a gender-stereotypical teaching style or is my style androgynous? (See listserv for characteristics of different teaching styles)
- Do I expose students to nonsexist perspectives, instructional materials, guest speakers, mentors, and tutors?
- Do I discourage gender-stereotypical language patterns?
- Do I intervene when I hear students or colleagues make inappropriate comments with regards to gender?
- Am I aware that male and female students often have different styles of communication in which females tend to suggest rather than command and males interrupt more often? (Tannen, 1990).
- If I know that females prefer teacher explanations, directions, and working with people, whereas males prefer learning environments that involve working independently, how could I accommodate these differences in my course?
References
Gabriel, S., and Smithson, I. (Eds.) (1990). Gender in the Classroom: Power and Pedagogy. University of Illinois Press.
Grossman, R., and Grossman, S. (1994). Gender Issues in Education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Streitmatter, J. (1992). Toward Gender Equity in the Classroom: Everyday Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices. State University of New York Press.
Tannen, D. (1990). You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York: William Morrow.
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