2. Discussion Questions:
In The Beginning…
What is the largest socialization factor for gender? Parents?
Schools/Teachers? Media? Peers?
How early does gender socialization start? Gender inequality?
Do you remember early examples of things being different in
your home/classroom based on gender?
4. Is there a smarter sex?
Halpern & LaMay (2000)
Male Advantage
Visual-spatial tasks
Math achievement tasks
Female Advantage
Verbal tasks
Memory tasks Diane Halpern
Gender difference largest at highest & lowest ends
Biology may have something to do with it…but minimal
6. Schools & Gender Socialization
Male athletic teams have value/prestige; female teams less so
Different values, goals, behaviors, etc. are reinforced
Textbooks rarely focus on important women
Valued behaviors are largely female-stereotypic
8. Is there a male crisis?
Women more likely to…
Enroll in college/university
Graduate from college/university
Get higher grades
56% of students enrolled in master’s
degree programs are women
9. Why would there be a male crisis?
“Feminization of Education”
Most teachers are women
Activities/school policies made by women, oriented toward girls
Changing image of masculinity
Narrowing of images of masculinity
Socially sanctioned male goals incompatible with intellectual goals
10. But…
Men still more likely to enroll in the
most prestigious/selective universities
Women earn 30% of STEM degrees
Majors remain highly segregated
Men: Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Technology
Women: Education, Nursing, Social/Life Sciences
11. More favorable depiction of men than women in textbooks
Boys given more time to respond to teacher’s questions
Boys receive more help, more praise, more correction
Girls called on less often in class
Differential Treatment of Females
12. Differential Treatment of Females:
A Second Look?
More favorable depiction of men than women in textbooks
Used to be true — but changing!
Boys given more time to respond to teacher’s questions
Lower expectations?
Boys receive more help, more praise, more correction
Boys also receive more disciplinary attention & punishment
Praise & unsolicited help may reflect lower expectations
Girls called on less often in class
Boys volunteer more
No gender difference after controlling for amount of volunteering
13. Is the educational system to blame for
gender inequality in society?
YES NO
More encouragement & challenging
tasks from teachers for boys
Girls get higher grades
Gender role socialization &
peer culture
Girls score higher on some
standardized achievement tests
Differential status of female & male
extracurriculars (despite Title IX)
Boys more likely to be diagnosed
with (some) learning disorders
14. Discussion Questions:
Reforming Education
Can a change in the education system and the curriculum
redefine the roles of boys and girls?
Do teachers understand that they are giving boys that extra
attention in school? And if they do understand then are they
doing anything personally about it?
If boys are being treated so much better and are being
constantly encouraged to build up their own self-esteem and
skills at school, why are girls still continuously outperforming
boys when it comes to grades?
15. Gender Differences in Lifetime Achievement
Males more likely than females to…
Get advanced educational degrees
Become academic faculty
Enter careers that allow quick advancement
Occupy positions of power and prestige
Earn more money for the same job (“earnings gap”)
Note: Most differences involve careers, labor market; not
so much educational system
Within educational system: Often parity or advantage for girls
How does female advantage within educational system translate into
disadvantage on the labor market, power in society?
16. Why do women achieve more
in education than in society?
Reality constraints
High power jobs are often not family friendly
Individual Choices
Preferences
Activities and interactions
Goals
Career aspirations
Lifestyle values
Expectations
Self-efficacy
Anticipated responses to the self
17. Career-Relevant Choices & Decisions
Females are less likely to end up in high-power careers
Gender-typing of
Tasks
Majors
Careers
Educational choices
Less interest in tech, quantitative careers
Less likely to choose advanced math in high school
Less likely to choose college major that requires math
18. Discussion Questions:
Is it really a free choice?
Perhaps there is some component of a woman's choice not to pursue
science because it has such a large population of males already? With such a
large number of men, there's bound to be a number who are discriminatory,
sexist, or misogynist. Do you think this knowledge makes choosing to go
into math-based or scientific fields less attractive? After all, if there were a
pool totally full of harmless fish, but amongst these fish there were a few
bull sharks here and there, I certainly wouldn't choose to enter the pool.
Ceci & Williams discuss the “choices” made by women, like opting out of
tenure-track careers in order to raise families. Do you think that these are
really “choices,” especially since men in those careers are never expected to
make them? Or do you think that women are given the illusion of a choice
and are expected to “choose” appropriately by opting for the family route?
20. BOYS GIRLS
Socialized to be aggressive, dominant,
strong, athletic
Socialized to be nurturing,
communal, kind, bubbly
Pick your fights wisely; display
dominance strategically
Smile all the time; hide your true
feelings at all costs
21. Gender & Self-Esteem
AAUW Report, Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America 1991
Self-esteemindex
0
1.3
2.5
3.8
5
Elementary Middle High School
Girls Boys
22. This is the sad reality in workplaces around the world: Women
help more but benefit less from it. In keeping with deeply held
gender stereotypes, we expect men to be ambitious and results-
oriented, and women to be nurturing and communal. When a
man offers to help, we shower him with praise and rewards. But
when a woman helps, we feel less indebted. She’s communal,
right? She wants to be a team player. The reverse is also true.
When a woman declines to help a colleague, people like her less
and her career suffers. But when a man says no, he faces no
backlash. A man who doesn’t help is “busy”; a woman is “selfish.”
28. Shaping Interest
185 families visiting a science museum
Crowley, Callanan, Tenenbaum & Allen, (2001), Psy Sci, 12, 258-261
Parents explain
more often to boys
than to girls
during shared
scientific thinking
Parents are more
likely to take boys
to the science
museum than they
are to take girls!
29. Shelley Correll (2001)
Cultural beliefs condition ability self-assessments
Males = good at math
Females = bad at math
Whether or not cultural beliefs are personally endorsed,
individuals are aware of them & they influence self-
assessments
Males think more highly of themselves compared to females,
even when there is no difference in math achievement
Influences choice of course
Influences choice of major
31. Discussion Questions:
The Other Side
Should society continue to uphold the [lower] status of
women [if] it proves advantageous to us in the long-run?
Is the gender difference really only one sided or should the
harm being done to boys be addressed as well? (Like being
dissuaded from pursuing careers in teaching/social work…)