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How did you understand the relationship between gender and education before this session? Have these understandings changed? If so, how?

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How did you understand the relationship between gender and education before this session? Have these understandings changed? If so, how?

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How do the issues discussed in this session reflect your own observations/experiences in school (as a teacher or student)? 

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How do the issues discussed in this session reflect your own observations/experiences in school (as a teacher or student)? 

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What most interested/ surprised/ challenged you about the reading/ documentary/ lecture? Was there anything you disagreed with? 

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What most interested/ surprised/ challenged you about the reading/ documentary/ lecture? Was there anything you disagreed with? 

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How might this topic inform your approach to teaching? What can we do as teachers to challenge gender discrimination and inequality? 

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How might this topic inform your approach to teaching? What can we do as teachers to challenge gender discrimination and inequality? 

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Sex/gender are a key defining dimension of our ideas, conceptions, behaviour, and aspirations. Nonetheless, we are so immersed within the gender discourse that we hardly notice how it may shape our thoughts and actions. Exploring gender allows us the opportunity to become aware of the everyday influences of social institutions such as family, religion, culture, and school that we take for granted as innocent. It also helps us understand that the social rules of how we should behave, what we should wear, whether we are pretty or ugly, strong, or weak are all socially constructed, and the meaning assigned to them are not fixed. Gender research gives voice to the marginalised who fail to express their true self due to the societal pressure of conforming to the social rules in the fear of being punished and becoming categorised as ugly, weird and/or weak.

The terms sex and gender are often used interchangeably, but sex and gender have separate meanings. Since the 1970s, gender as a topic has gained exponential currency as a discipline and a major category of analysis within the discipline of Social Science and Humanities. Even though scholarly work on gender has been profuse, a straightforward definition of sex, gender and their differences are quite rare. Broadly, sex can be understood as the biological categorisation of human beings based on reproductive organs, chromosomes etc. For example, if one has male genitalia then the person is considered male and vice versa. Gender on the other hand refers to the social roles associated with their assigned sex category. For example, if one is categorised as male, they are expected to show masculine traits and if one is categorised as female, they are expected to exhibit feminine traits. Nonetheless, we need to keep in mind that gender is a heavily contested term, and its meaning is not fixed.

The social rules of how we should perform our gender (such as how we should talk, behave, what we should be interested in, what sports should we play, which professions we are supposed to choose etc) are forwarded through social institutions. School is an important institution where children start to learn these rules from a very early age. We take teachings and behavioural etiquettes taught at the school as standard and feel obliged to follow them. Thus, schools, educational institutions and teachers work as strong contenders to perpetuate social rules and norms.

Through our lecture, article, and video this week we learnt how human beings are not so different biologically and how social institutions pass on information to children from birth that mould our thoughts, ideas, self-esteem, and future aspirations. It may feel that knowing about gender and social construction was nice, however, how does it change my reality? Being aware of the power and influence of the social institutions help us realise being a girl does not mean being weak, delicate, and/or fragile. They are beyond being pretty, wearing makeup and nice dresses. It is not only said that they can be anything they want to be but also to believe in it (as we saw in the video, girls tend to underestimate their worth). It is okay for boys to be emotional and cry to express their feelings (we saw on the video how boys tend to express their feeling through anger and struggle to express them in words). They do not have to portray being strong by playing football or becoming a firefighter because society portrays them as strength. One is not weird just because they do not fall under the standard definition of male-female binary characteristics defined by society.

Thanks to everyone who shared their ideas here. It was really interesting reading them. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. Look forward to seeing you all at our next seminar.

Tahsina.akbar@manchester.ac.uk