Interpretive Frameworks Explanations Focusing On Social Differences ]
Teachers working within this framework tended to focus on the social differences between girls and boys. While they may also have acknowledged the biological roots of some of the differences, they stressed the importance of understanding how boys and girls are socialised to be different. They were cognisant of the need to recognise that girls and boys are not socialised as homogeneous groups, but that differences also relate to socio-economic and cultural variables. For those working in this framework, a key theme in achieving equity was that of valuing and celebrating difference. As a consequence, emphasis was given to valuing the different contributions of women and girls as well as those of men and boys.
It should be noted that much of the recent and current history of gender equity and curriculum reform has been such a framework of focusing on difference. It has seen a push to ensure that the curriculum incorporates and values the experiences and achievements of women and girls.
From this study into how schools are determining their gender equity needs analyses, the following aspects of this framework emerged.
SOCIALISATION AND 'ROLE PLAY INSTALLATION'
Socialisation is generally seen as the process through which individuals internalise norms and values of a society and are able to integrate into it. It is a process that begins from birth and is ongoing. With children, much socialisation takes place quite overtly and is subject to scrutiny. However, much also takes place very subtly and is less open to scrutiny. From the perspective of the socialisation of girls and boys, data from this study suggest it is important to be aware of the extent of gender socialisation. According to one principal:
There are a number of factors that strike me. Firstly, I think one of the great problems is what happens between birth and the age of three or four. By the time they come to kindergarten, we've already got a very, very clear role play installation in these kids; the girls can do these sort of things and the boys those sorts of things and not as good as each other. So it's socialisation.
The constraining aspects of the 'role play installation' that occurs from a young age was something this school was trying to overcome. What is also important in this school's analysis of what was happening is not only the role differentiation the girls and boys had acquired, but what the school saw as a severe 'social put down' of what girls do.
It's frequently said that the girls suffer at the hands of the boys, and indeed they do. I think the put down of girls is very severe in primary school. It's a social put down rather than real victimisation. The boys simply don't play with them. The boys don't include them. The boys don't want to know them.
Interestingly, there is a further dimension to this role installation. Not only were girls generally seen to be 'put down' by the boys, but whoever strayed from the role accepted as the norm for the boys was put down by both girls and boys, especially the latter.
Now, the same is true of boys, that boys who tend to dance and boys who tend to do this are regarded by the girls as being a bit effeminate. But probably the strongest thing against dance is homophobia amongst the boys. The boys themselves regard dancing and the arts as pretty effeminate.
Implications for action
If gender analyses involved schools looking at socialisation, and specifically sex role stereotyping, responses often involved trying to break down the stereotypes and their negative connotations. In the case mentioned above, the school adopted a policy of mixing student activities and trying to lift the profile of male dancers. According to the principal:
If the school doesn't have very, very strong policies of mixing [the girls and boys], then the girls can feel as though they're second class citizens. And so, unless the school can really make an extremely strong case for the boys to ever dance then they're just simply going to let it slip by. ... So I put it to the whole school that I would be happiest of all if we could win the Rock Eisteddfod next year with 50% boys in the team, and show the whole State where Rock Eisteddfod really ought to be. And the boys and the girls have risen to that, I mean, they like hearing that sort of stuff.
In another situation, the school saw students from 'a moderately working class area' being socialised into very traditional gender roles at home. The school's response was in the following terms:
We would see ourselves challenging some of the traditional stereotypes. We would have staff who would be very keen on ensuring that the kids see a wide variety of views and opinions and horizons. We would certainly be very keen to have our girls feeling like they had a full range of possibilities available to them in their lives and boys feeling like they were embracing the ideas of modern men, if you like.
In many of the schools in this study, sex role stereotyping was something they tackled at some stage of their gender equity reform. This ranged from human relationships education programs and career education programs which focused on stereotyping, through to individual classroom activities. An example of the latter was an activity with younger children which looked at the range of toys typically linked to girls and boys. The principal took a group of children to a toy shop and looked at toys in sections labelled for 'Girls' and for 'Boys'. Not only did they undertake a simple gender analysis with the toys, but they followed up with action. According to the principal:
So we went back to school and we talked about this. There was a group of kids that went down to the toy shop with me and we said, 'We're concerned about this, and would you be able to put up labels that didn't designate that as being girls stuff and that as being boys stuff, but rather designate that as "home stuff" and "tractors" and label them appropriately as to what they were rather than in terms of people.' I think you can encourage kids to do things like that, because they feel that they are actively doing something to change.
AS PART OF THE CULTURE OF THE TOWN
In their analysis of gender equity needs a number of the schools in the study drew attention to the nature of the community in which the school was located. As part of their interpretive framework, understanding the culture of the community was crucial to understanding the socialisation of the students. Often such perspectives presented a complex web of racial, gender and cross-cultural dynamics. As described by the principal of one such school:
The culture of the town is macho, `live-it-hard', in many ways ... mixed with the differences of further North and the differences of a mining town which seem to be a lot more 'full on' in lots of ways. You get a lot more violence in mining towns. These kids have similar attitudes but are a lot calmer about it. Maybe that is a bit more dangerous in some ways. Some of the stuff is overt in those other towns whereas it is a lot more covert here and the attitudes are expressed in different and more subtle ways.
In talking about the culture of the town, the principal also took account of the town's history and of the racial, ethnic and gender tensions over time, as well as the changing attitudes across different generations in the community. In the past, the town had been a mission town, so part of its history involved Aboriginal children being taken to the mission. Community gender issues were inextricably interwoven in this historical and cultural mix. At the same time, the current demography of the town comprised a socio-economic mix of professional groups and a large 'blue collar' population. Girls had limited role models in the local community and many were reluctant to leave town to pursue careers.
Implications for action
A broad framework such as this which brings the school community into focus, draws a very large net in terms of what the school needs to do, or in fact, can do. One of the most frequent concerns of schools working in gender equity is how schools' efforts can be negated by the home experiences and the attitudes and practices within the broader community.
For schools like the above, understanding the school community as intimately as they do is an essential aspect of their data gathering and gender equity needs analyses. In the situation described, that knowledge alerted them to the need to access liaison workers and other community members to link the work the school was doing to the broader community.
Knowledge of the community also provides a backdrop for gender perceptions of the students so that schools may be able to anticipate and understand student resistance to gender reform.
In one of the study schools, an example was given of a poem written by one of the girls about a woman isolated in the suburbs. The reaction of some of the girls in the class was unsympathetic and expressed itself in responses such as 'look all she's got to do is get on a bus and go into town. Those women make me sick'. What the teacher in this situation did was to immediately draw on what she knew of the students' backgrounds and take the discussion into a comparison of their comfortable socio-economic backgrounds and the support and opportunities this provided them, compared to women from low socio-economic backgrounds.