Woman and Society - Gendered Education

The author of the article 'Gendered Education: Communication in Schools' argues that the existence of gender stereotypes within the education system creates unequal educational opportunities for female students. She concentrates on many questions to form the basis of her article and main points. She addresses the questions, which people have more or less status within the education system and why, why is education for male students valued more than education for female students, and how do these gender-stereotypes in educational institutions affect people's professional lives. Based on these questions the author's main argument is that there is a 'hidden curriculum' within schools that create gender inequality within students through stereotypes that represent the importance of male education in schools and depicts female education as less important. The author makes many key points in accordance with her main argument to support her point of view. One key point was that the organization of schools contributes to gender expectations of society and reproduces the idea that men and masculinity are superior. She further mentions that the curriculum content devalues women by representing them as unimportant and presenting men as the norm or standard in society. Lastly, her key point was that communications in schools contribute to gendered education as they give male students more attention, respect, and recognition than to female students. The author uses many different types of evidences to support these key points such as statistics, facts, and testimonies, which were based on the experiences of other people. These evidences were gathered based on the method of secondary research as the author used resources which were done by other people and not solely based on her own research.

Concepts:

The author uses two key concepts to build her main argument of gender inequalities in the education system. Stereotyping is one key concept that the author uses to describe the inequality between male and female students. She explains how stereotyping is used by the school curriculum to enforce specific careers and expectations for male and female students. In the article, the author describes how women are taught differently than men in schools because women have certain 'feminine' characteristics that represent them as being less important in the educational system than men. These gender stereotypes prevent female students from having the proper education they deserve. Females are encouraged to pursue more 'feminine' jobs such as teachers and nurses, well males are enforced to pursue more 'masculine' jobs relating to technology and computers. Male jobs are considered higher status and higher paying positions, but gender stereotypes against women act as a barrier for girls and women wishing to pursue these male careers. Educational institutions teach women according to the traditional stereotypes of a woman; nurturing, passive, and quiet, while they teach men to according to their traditional stereotype in society as independent, assertive, and active.

Another key concept used by the author is sexism, she incorporates this concept in much of her article as she argues that sexism has led to male superiority in the educational systems, and females have little or no authority. She describes that the educational system consists mostly of male authority which teaches male superiority as the norm or standard in society. Curriculum content in schools consists primarily of male experiences and accomplishments and women experiences and perspectives are neglected. Education system devalues females by associating important areas of society with male dominance, and discourages girls and women from aspiring for the same rank. The author explains that female students are encouraged to pursue less demanding jobs while males are encouraged to pursue the more challenging, high status, and higher paying jobs.

Part II- An Evaluative Voice:

In evaluating this article, I was able to make informed judgments of the main arguments and ideas being presented. I found many strengths and weaknesses