The international crisis of gender disparity in education
According to UNICEF (2015), there are deep-rooted problems in many of our world's societies that prevent many girls from ever entering a school. The statistics they cite are striking, with parts of Asia having the biggest parity. Specifically, they cite this statistic: "80 per cent of (South and West Asia's) out-of-school girls are unlikely to ever start school compared to 16 per cent of its out-of-school boys."
Furthermore, there are critical societal reasons that this kind of gender disparity is a critical issue for UNICEF:
Recent estimates show that one-third of girls in the developing world are married before age 18, and one-third of women in the developing world give birth before age 20. If all girls had secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, child marriage would fall by 64 per cent, from almost 2.9 million to just over 1 million.
UNESCO's position statement echoes UNICEF's priority: "UNESCO is committed to promoting gender equality in and through education systems from early childhood to higher education, in formal, non-formal and informal settings and in all intervention areas from planning infrastructure to training teachers." (UNESCO, 2017)
To that end, UNESCO has a specific initiative entitled "the Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education." I was interested to learn from UNESCO's website that the two most troubled aspects of global education for females are secondary education and literacy. These two topics are such a "given" for girls in the United States that it's troubling to hear how uncommon these are for women in many countries.
Gender Disparity Issues in the United States
Nationally, I found a topics regarding gender disparity discussed by education organizations, in particular the need for girls to be encouraged in more lucrative STEM careers.
According to the NEA, for example, "girls are five times less likely than boys to consider technology-related careers." They also found data that surprised me, such as "children's science programs feature three times as many male characters as female characters and twice as many male scientists as female scientists." (NEA, 2008, p.2)
Specifically, in their policy brief, NEA states their position, tending toward total gender equality: "Even with the changes that have come about under Title IX, research confirms that traditional gender-based stereotypes and inequities still exist and are still limiting the academic and social development of both females and males... NEA supports educational settings where both females and males flourish."
The AERA also highlights trouble research regarding math, in particular, and how boys and girls are achieving statistically. In particular, they noted that kindergarten-aged children, a math disparity develops early. Specifically, they discovered that despite some findings that
My reflection
I find the dissimilarity between the national issues surrounding gender disparity versus international issues quite striking.
While I feel lucky to be teaching in the United States, where our biggest "problems" are teachers' perhaps subconscious preference to push math and other STEM topics with boys, I feel driven with new purpose toward educating more of the worlds' women at an appropriate point of my career.
I noticed that several national organizations for educators, including the AFT, have specific stated directives toward worldwide education The AFT specifically directs its members to take on several initiatives to promote education for girls in other countries.
It is heartening to see educators in the United States take the issue of global girls' education to heart, as well as take our own remaining disparities seriously.
I am also inspired to learn more about Title IX and how that continues to affect education in the United States.
Nationally, I found a topics regarding gender disparity discussed by education organizations, in particular the need for girls to be encouraged in more lucrative STEM careers.
According to the NEA, for example, "girls are five times less likely than boys to consider technology-related careers." They also found data that surprised me, such as "children's science programs feature three times as many male characters as female characters and twice as many male scientists as female scientists." (NEA, 2008, p.2)
Specifically, in their policy brief, NEA states their position, tending toward total gender equality: "Even with the changes that have come about under Title IX, research confirms that traditional gender-based stereotypes and inequities still exist and are still limiting the academic and social development of both females and males... NEA supports educational settings where both females and males flourish."
The AERA also highlights trouble research regarding math, in particular, and how boys and girls are achieving statistically. In particular, they noted that kindergarten-aged children, a math disparity develops early. Specifically, they discovered that despite some findings that
Teachers consistently rate girls’ mathematical proficiency lower than that of boys with similar achievement and learning behaviors. Gender differences in learning approaches appear to be fairly consistent across the achievement distribution, but girls’ more studious approaches appear to have more payoff at the bottom of the distribution than at the top. Questions remain regarding why boys outperform girls at the top of the distribution, and several hypotheses are discussed. Overall, the persistent ECLS-K patterns make clear that girls’ early mathematics learning experiences merit further attention. (Cimpian, Lubienski, Timmer, Makowski, and Miller, 2016)Diving into the AERA's website was particularly fascinating since it relies solely on statistical research to back its findings, rather than trends or news stories. It seems like an excellent place to find reliable information as to whether certain educational strategies or demographic trends are supported by appropriate research.
My reflection
I find the dissimilarity between the national issues surrounding gender disparity versus international issues quite striking.
While I feel lucky to be teaching in the United States, where our biggest "problems" are teachers' perhaps subconscious preference to push math and other STEM topics with boys, I feel driven with new purpose toward educating more of the worlds' women at an appropriate point of my career.
I noticed that several national organizations for educators, including the AFT, have specific stated directives toward worldwide education The AFT specifically directs its members to take on several initiatives to promote education for girls in other countries.
It is heartening to see educators in the United States take the issue of global girls' education to heart, as well as take our own remaining disparities seriously.
I am also inspired to learn more about Title IX and how that continues to affect education in the United States.
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References
"AFT Resolution: Girls and Young Women's Education," 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2017 from
http://www.aft.org/resolution/girls-and-young-womens-education
"Have Gender Gaps in Math Closed? Achievement, Teacher Perceptions, and Learning Behaviors Across Two ECLS-K Cohorts," Joseph R. Cimpian, Sarah T. Lubienski, Jennifer D. Timmer, Martha B. Makowski, Emily K. Miller, October 26, 2016. Published in
"AERA Open."
"Girls Education and Gender Equality," Global Partnership for Education
Retrieved April 26, 2017 from http://www.globalpartnership.org/focus-areas/girls-education
"Mathematics and Science for Every Girl and Boy," NEA Policy Brief 2008, Retrieved April 26, 2017 from http://www.nea.org/home/36073.htm
"Women and Girls' Education," UNESCO, undated. Retrieved April 26, 2017 from nhttp://en.unesco.org/themes/women-s-and-girls-education
"Girls' Education and Gender Equality," UNICEF, July 23, 2015
Retrieved April 27, 2017 from https://www.unicef.org/education/bege_70640.html
"Bias and Stereotypes Sideline Girls in STEM," NEA Today, http://neatoday.org/2015/10/15/bias-and-stereotypes-sideline-girls-in-stem/
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