In Snips and Snails and Puppy Dogs’ Tails: Genderism and Mathematics Education, Indigo Esmonde argues that although arguably the achievement gap between boys and girls in mathematics has been shrunk, and in some cases virtually eliminated, those gaps are being measured using binary gender terms. Binary gender refers to boys and girls and students being classified as one or the other based on biology.
Esmonde points to a recent shift in the Toronto School District specifically, to focus attention back on boys. For many years, a large amount of mathematics research has been focused on girls and narrowing the gap. Now that many goals have arguably been reached, educators are realizing that boys and their learning and achievement has been largely ignored. Boys are now over-represented in learning support, underachieving in class and are exhibiting disruptive and violent behaviours.
Esmonde then goes on to discuss that “sex” and “gender” are terms that seem to be used in research interchangeably and should not be. Indeed, “sex” is determined using biological means, whereas “gender” is a social construct. There are also many students who do not fit into those categories. Past research did not consider many other factors, such as social class, culture, race, and ethnicity. It also often assumed that all girls and boys are virtually identical to each other: girls are emotional and caring, boys like hands-on activities and movement.
Esmonde feels strongly that educators need to work towards an anti-genderist mathematics classroom. This term, in her opinion, does not mean to eliminate gender in classrooms, but rather “the goal should be to challenge the gender binary and pervasive gender-normativity in education.” (p. 30)
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I found this article extremely interesting and also challenging to my pre-conceived ideas on gender in the classroom. All of my reading on gender education thus far has been focused (unintentionally) on the gender binary, boys vs. girls. In my teaching experience, there does still seem to be a gap between girls’ attitudes and achievement versus boys’ attitudes and achievement, but the gap is certainly much smaller than it was even 10 years ago.
This article has made me reevaluate both my classroom and the gender norms that are reinforced, as well as the resources my school uses in the mathematics classroom. Word problems are often the easiest way to observe the gender-normalizing classroom we create. The texts that I have used, which are strong in terms of content, are full of stereotypes and certainly conform to gender-normative behaviour: boys have short hair and play sports, girls have long hair and cook and bake.
Both this article and last week’s articles are closely connected, as teaching students about social justice includes issues of gender. Moving forward, I would be very interested in reading about and participating in activities that help students understand and appreciate that gender is not simply boys and girls, that it includes many marginalized groups and can be fluid in a person’s life. School is a place where students need to learn about different perspectives and experiences and be taught acceptance of all the differences in gender, race, religion, culture, ethnicity and how to work together to form a community. Educators need to take the time to consider and appreciate their students and the realities they live in and with and show students that every difference is valued.
Do you feel it is necessary to challenge gender-normative behaviour in the mathematics classroom? Do schools have a responsibility to challenge gender norms? How do you see yourself challenging the gender binary?
I feel it is necessary to challenge gender-normative curricula and instruction in the classroom. I see that there is some necessity to add one more item to the "watch list". However, it is no surprise that we consider a classroom to be a social environment between the teacher, students, curriculum, and a reflection of the real world. After Trump was elected, while it has generated many conversations in public, I heard more discussion about him among my young students. When social studies are concerned with individualism and marginalized minorities, our math instruction is influenced as well. I have been trying to integrate some social aspects to my classes but I found sometimes I have to sacrifice mathematical content in order to accommodate social needs in the classroom, for example, to bring in more “inspirational” gender-focused stories to encourage students to catch up. Your comments make me re-assess my approach in term of balance and fairness of teaching.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree and like your comment: “School is a place where students need to learn about different perspectives and experiences and be taught acceptance of all the differences in gender, race, religion, culture, ethnicity and how to work together to form a community.”
ReplyDeletePlease allow me to explain Japanese cases. I think the issue of gender/sex in Japan is much serious than Canada, binary gender norms were strongly rooted in about 10 years ago. Although schools and teachers did not obviously guide students gender roles, but the norms are quite strong both inside and outside of school and the most students follow it. And the society slightly change to accept the new gender in the recent years (I guess because the society loves to emulate the West). However, they still recognize LGBTQ as just other than boys and girls: which means they are considered as “abnormal”. I believe classroom in school should be like your comment above, and especially adults, teachers and parents, need to understand the complicated nature of human-beings to play a significant role to reduce this inequity, rather than students.