The education system is a poor performer when it comes to dealing with social injustices. Vices such as single-sex schooling, violence, bullying and sexual harassment have become characteristic of our education system (Mashal, Andre-Bechley & Midkiff, 2014). It is unfortunate that schools do little to ensure the safety of the students and this has resulted in many students losing their lives as it was the case at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The one eye of the media is still blindfolded because it pays much attention to the misfortunes of the girl child and neglects the boy child. Cases of boys and men being bullied or sexually abused have been experienced yet none of this hits the news headlines, it is only the women who have the attention of the media on such matters. Women also are disadvantaged in our education system yet they are integral in our societies (Trueman, 2016). They are victims of chauvinism, thus, they are poorly represented and gain little support from the government. There is the need for our education and political systems to revise their policies to cease disadvantaging the women.
The initiation of public schooling saw women being recruited as teachers of morals. Their employers demanded that they ought not to be seen in public with men owing to what they were mandated to do (Mashal, Andre-Bechley & Midkiff, 2014). In addition, most of their other roles revolved around domestic life. During this time, a female teachers’ salary was half the amount that the males got. The high school leadership -principal- was also regarded as a masculine job thus; men were highly favored for such positions. In addition, a woman was not allowed to vote during school board elections. There was a perception that when a woman becomes active in politics her feminine role fades away. A body such as NEA was active to ensure that a single salary was adopted and women rights at the workplace are not violated. However, in the 21st century, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act was initiated by the government that saw many women teachers being replaced by male teachers (Mashal, Andre-Bechley & Midkiff, 2014). High school female students, on the other hand, were not encouraged to Pursue University education by their school counselors who apparently were overloaded and misinformed women. Gender disparity was also a major hurdle that hindered girls from taking science oriented courses (Mashal, Andre-Bechley & Midkiff, 2014). Such biases led to few women earning bachelor’s degree in courses like engineering technology and computer science compared to men.
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The Title IX initiative that was launched by the Congress in 1972 as part of the ESEA was a relief to most women since it prohibited discrimination against women in relation to education and co-curricular activities (Mashal, Andre-Bechley & Midkiff, 2014). Following its implementation, the U.S. there has been massive educational and co-curricular attainment on girls and women. In 2010 for instance, 36% of women had degrees and the number of women who were involved in Olympic Games was also remarkable (Mashal, Andre-Bechley & Midkiff, 2014). This move has paved the way for more women ending up being superintendents (24% ) and teachers ( 75%) in the year 2010. Education attainment made people realize that women were not gendered biased if they were allowed to vote during board meetings (Mashal, Andre-Bechley & Midkiff, 2014). In a nutshell, more women got involved in vast fields such as commerce, transportation, medicine, law and many other fields that were initially deemed “masculine jobs” (Cook, 2016).
Gender biases are a social problem and needs to be addressed at all cost. Personally, I evidenced a scenario where some girl-specific high schools have omitted some science-oriented subjects because they believe that science is a male related field and that girls’ mind are too shallow to understand some scientific concepts. Additionally, high schools that have science related subjects in the curricula do not employ female teachers to lecture in those subjects. This is also another form of gender discrimination. Therefore, the problem of gender discrimination can be resolved if the political and education systems adjust their policies so that women can be well represented in all fields. Policies in this regards ought to be designed in such a way that people are considered for top position or promotions based on merit rather than gender. Politicians also need to show loyalty and interest in supporting women and children.
References
Cook, S. (2016). What’s the Point of Education? A Feminist Perspective . Retrieved from http://www.sociologytwynham.com
Mashal, C., Andre-Bechley, L. & Midkiff, B. (2014). Feminism and Education: Binders of Women and Blinders of men. Handbook of Education Politics and Policy . New York: Routledge. ISBN : 9780415660426. pp. 231-240.
Trueman, C. N. (2016). “Feminism and Education”. The History Learning Site. Retrieved from http://www.historylearningsite.co.ke
