So what is gender bias? Gender bias is the discrimination that unjustly accommodates to individuals based on their gender. This treatment may be quite obvious, or may be very subtle and go unnoticed.
When students enter elementary school, boys and girls are usually equal when it comes to measure academic abilities. But studies have shown that by the age of twelve, girls outscore boys on reading and writing tests. However, boys outscore girls on mathematics and self-esteem. These scores may be because of gender bias, or gender discrimination within the schools. In our textbook by Robert and Joanne McNergney, they say that many critics believe that girls receive less attention than boys. "Some teachers also ask boys more challenging questions, encourage them to work to get a correct answer, offer them more praise, and constructive criticism, and acknowledge their achievements more than they do for girls."(49) These critics also argue that this attention is often higher quality attention than the girls receive as well.
The socialization of gender within schools is ultimately quite unfair. According to Amanda Chapman, gender discrimination within schools assures that girls know that they are unequal to boys at an early age. Something as simple as lining the children up in a boys line and a girls line creates a belief that boys are different from girls. When boys misbehave in school, they are often not reprimanded because 'boys will be boys.' Boys are often teased for 'throwing like a girl' or 'crying like a girl' which suggests that being a girl is a bad thing, and once again these behaviors are just things boys say, going back to 'boys will be boys.' Teachers are creating an image of how girls should be: calm and neat, while boys can speak up, be active, and misbehave. If girls do speak up, it is viewed as disorderly, but when boys speak up, it is a motive to assert themselves. Is this fair?
On the opposite side, there is reasoning to believe that there is also gender bias affecting boys negatively. Fast forward to high school. Girls often receive higher scores on standardized tests. More boys are diagnosed with learning disabilities and are more often stay back a grade than girls. Fewer boys than girls graduate high school, go to or graduate from college. Are these effects of gender bias? The article Gender Bias may fuel under-performance among boys believes so. This author of this article is under the impression that over the past twenty years teaching styles and supplies have been changed to fit girls' academic abilities and ignoring the needs of boys. These changes are forcing boys to learn in a setting which favors girls, making many boys feel self-conscious in their surrounding.
So how can we stop gender bias from occurring in the classroom? As a teacher, you can start by making your expectations of students the same for boys and girls. If you're expecting the same behavior from both girl and boy students, you can begin to eliminate the bias. Another way to prevent the gender discrimination is to incorporate supplies that are beneficial to both boys and girls. This means not using texts that always have boy characters or texts that focus completely on woman's issues. As a teacher you can also set up a fair way of calling on students. Putting each students name in a box or a basket and choosing that way is equal for all students. As for behaviors, it is important that you do not jump to conclusions if a certain behavior is happening. Instead of assuming, investigate the problem to figure out why it is happening.
Every classroom can avoid gender discrimination if we take the right steps to do it!
Sources used:
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/genderbias.html
http://toysoldier.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/early-gender-bias-may-fuel-under-performance-among-boys/
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