Gender Equity

Sadker, David. “Gender Equity: Still Knocking at the Classroom Door.” Educational Leadership, 56, (2009).

In this piece, Sadker presents his view that while we have made significant progress with gender equity, the job is not finished and subtle gender biases still exist. He develops his argument with ten “updates” on gender equity: #10 – segregation still thrives in American schools; #9 – public school are now creating single gender classes and schools; #8 – gender related safety and health concerns continue to plague females; #7 – the dropout rate is not what we think it is; #6 – for girls, gifted programs are often “early in and early out;” #5 – more needs to be done to understand and eliminate the gender bias that impacts males; #4 – classroom interactions between teachers and students put males in the spotlight, and relegate females to the sidelines; #3 – the math and science gender gap is getting smaller; #2 – don’t look now, but there is a new gender gap in technology; #1 – political forces are intent on reversing many of the gains in educational equity made during the past decade.

I found some of Sadker’s assertions to be nitpicky, and would need to see his arguments backed by hard evidence. For instance, the fact that females and males tend to major in different areas doesn’t necessarily suggest that there is bias occurring. Males and females could likely have different interests, which poses no problem. I believe that females and males should have equal opportunities, but I don’t think that females and males should become one homogenous breed. Females and males inherently have differences. The different energies are what create a balance.