4 BEST TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN EDUCATION

Reading time: 5 min

Promoting gender equality in education spaces is one of the most fundamental ways that we can tackle systemic bias and inequalities. It’s while learning that many of us start to form ideas of how the world works and what our place in it is. By creating equality in these spaces and giving everybody equal opportunities to learn, regardless of their gender identity, educators can transform the next generation of school-leavers and tackle inequality on a much broader scale than they might realize. Gender equality in education is therefore one of the most critical aspects we should look at! Although significant steps have been made in recent years, gaps in representation, skills, and confidence persist, and we need to find ways to tackle these.

According to the World Bank, across sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 34 million adolescent girls remain out of secondary school, and they are less likely to complete secondary education. The global literary rate for women is around 82%, and for men, it’s 90%, leaving us with a critical gender gap that needs to be addressed.

Yet bringing equality to the classroom may be more challenging than it initially seems, and gender inequality is widely recognized as a significant problem in academia, with Sage Journals noting that greater attempts are needed to address bias by both improving policies and improving practices.

How can we do this in ways that are effective at all levels? For teachers in schools, colleges, and universities, the challenges are numerous – but we can succeed if we try!

As we all do, educators are likely to have unconscious biases and baggage from the society that they have been brought up in, and this will affect how they deal with their students. Even if you think you’re being scrupulously fair, you may be accidentally bringing bias to your teaching environment. It can come out in a number of ways; how you assign tasks, the way you mete out discipline, what you view as problematic behavior, and even in grading.

So, how can you address these things?

Talk to your students 1-1

It’s easy to forget that you have an excellent resource for finding out if you’re being fair in the classroom: those you are teaching. Give students a safe, comfortable avenue for raising concerns, and actively seek feedback from them, both in person and with anonymous options.

Listen carefully to the feedback you get, and keep an eye out for any trends or patterns within it. Perhaps you’ll notice that you’re consistently giving more speaking time in class to men than women, grading work from gender non-conforming students more harshly, or giving some demographics of students their feedback publicly while others receive it privately. You should also think about whether your students are from high-context or low-context cultures, and adapt your teaching style accordingly!

By demonstrating that you are prepared to listen to feedback on your teaching, you will help students feel more comfortable in your classroom and gain interesting insights into what you could be doing better. You may get new ideas on how to approach problems, or identify an issue that you weren’t previously aware of. This is often overlooked as a method for promoting gender equality, but it can be powerful! It will also improve the relationships you enjoy with your students and help them feel heard, which in turn will help build their confidence in voicing their thoughts, feelings, and needs in many situations beyond just your classroom, giving them benefits that they’ll carry forward into the rest of their lives.

Find gender-neutral language

Many people dismiss the importance of the words and phrases we use day-to-day and don’t recognize that these can be alienating or frustrating. Phrases like “Man up,” “Come on, guys,” “That’s not ladylike,” and more often increase the sense of division within the classroom. Recognizing that gendered language matters on a very fundamental level helps us to get at the underlying problems of gender bias.

Look for ways to remove gendering from your language and opt for more inclusive terms. “Everybody” can work well, or you might choose “folks” for something less formal. “Listen up, all,” can be another good option. While these may seem like small changes, they alter the atmosphere within the classroom and help to passively make it a more inclusive space.

This should go beyond your word choices, too, and filter into the teaching. Think about the examples you give and the gender norms that these feed into. Could you use a male receptionist or a female soldier in your next example? Is there scope to include gender-neutral individuals?

Our words matter more than we realize! The BRM Institute looked into the neuroscience behind language, and found that words impact us on a deep psychological level. Your students might not consciously notice that you’re saying “guys,” rather than “everyone,” but it makes a surprising amount of difference. Similarly, they may never realize that your examples play into society’s idea of gendered work roles, but they’ll still absorb those norms and begin to perpetuate them.

Mix gender groups

When it comes to combining gender equality and education, don’t fall into the trap of separating students by gender for activities, or letting them do this themselves. Especially at young ages, children will often group themselves according to gender because they feel more comfortable with their own gender. You have an opportunity to counteract this by deliberately encouraging groups to mix, or making your own diverse groups when assigning projects. It’s thought that doing this could even improve their learning!

Similarly, don’t use gender as an easy grouping option (e.g. “girls, line up over there, boys over there.”). Doing so will only reinforce differences and divides, contributing to a sense of distance, not to mention that it can leave non-binary and gender non-conforming students uncomfortably isolated from their peers. Seating plans, group assignments, and the rest of your approach to students should all contribute to gender equality and inclusivity by taking gender out of the equation entirely.

Establish clear rules

Students do better when they are given clear rules to work with, and this is an excellent opportunity to further your gender equality project. For example, boys and girls are often held to different standards. Boys are expected to be energetic and outgoing, while girls are expected to be quiet and calm. By creating neutral rules that can be applied to everyone, teachers can make sure that they aren’t holding different genders to different standards, while also being considerate toward people who don’t feel at home within the gender binary.

You can talk to your students about the rules they think would be good and fair to implement in the classroom, encouraging them to create a space that’s respectful of everybody. When it’s time to hold somebody to the rules, think about whether you’re truly being impartial and whether you would call out or overlook the behavior of a student of a different gender.

Small steps with a big impact

These 4 strategies for producing better gender equality in the classroom may sound simple, but they’re often exactly what’s needed to create shifts at a fundamental level. Start by seeking feedback from your students so you can understand where you need to improve. This, alongside managing your language and making a conscious effort not to divide by gender, with some clear rules that apply to everyone, will go a long way to making your classroom a gender-inclusive and equity-driven space!

Time to get hands-on!

Use role models to disseminate the key messages of gender equality in primary schools. For example, invite a female police officer as a guest speaker during International Men’s Day and a male nurse during International Women’s Day to celebrate diversity together through different occupations.