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The two major socialising agents for young children are obviously school and family. Early gendered experiences at school and home can make a strong impression.

SINGLE SEX SCHOOLS

For many teachers in this study, their own schooling left a lasting legacy. Women who had gone to a single sex school often reflected on their current schools in the light of their own education. All spoke highly of their single sex experience, emphasising the confidence it gave them and the opportunities it provided for them to achieve. For many, working in coeducational settings highlighted their own non-gendered school experience. According to a teacher who had been to a Catholic all girls' school:

Yes, I'm very much a supporter of segregated schools. I know all the down sides, but I really believe in the academic advantages of it. You can handle the social side otherwise, but on the academic side I think that's where girls get the most opportunities to start thinking of themselves as achievers.

And according to another, a principal who had also been to an all girls' school:

I actually went to a boarding school, where I boarded from Year 7 to Year 12. It was an all girls school, which was a great thing too. For my parents it was quite a debate; whether the girls would have the same education as the boys. But it all worked out!

Probably if you want to go back further, having experienced it [bullying] when I was going to school has made it very relevant and important to me at that time. When you experience these things then you have more of a sense of direction and where to go. A lot of these kids who have written about why they are like they are now, it's because of what happened to them when they were younger.

ACCEPTING GENDER INEQUITIES

Many women accepted that there were different expectations of girls and boys when they were growing up and didn't view it negatively at the time. Often, however, their later educational and professional experiences raised an awareness of gender inequities.

I have an Italian-Australian background, and knew from a very young age that girls and boys were treated differently. I don't want you to think it was anything negative; I had a very happy childhood. It's just that I knew from a very young age that there were some things that boys could do and some things that girls could do, and boys could do more. I grew up in a family which was male dominated - not in the sense of heavy handedness - but we had a lot of males and not a lot of girls in the extended family. So it became evident when I was quite young that there were certain things that girls couldn't do, and I accepted that. I think it was probably as I got a little bit older and went to Teachers College that I could understand what it all was, but the interest has been there for a long, long time.

GROWING UP WITH GENDER EQUITY

Many teachers in the study gave tribute to their family background, both for what they had achieved and for their professional concerns with gender equity. In both the following cases, the teachers also saw the importance of ensuring the same support for their own children:

I've got a fairly strong-founded background in gender equity because my parents are very professional and my mother is very heavily involved in gender equity. I got a lot of background from her; she was a Superintendent of Equal Opportunity so it has rubbed off on me I hope. I've got two daughters and I don't want them to be gender biased.

And further:

I've got to admit I have always been fairly interested in gender issues and have always felt it unfair when girls are dominated, particularly by boys. Neither of my parents would put up with anything that was gender biased. My brother is the same and I know my sister is as well. They tend to stick up for each other and they tend to stick up for other people. It's just one of those things when you are lucky enough to have parents like that. They weren't the 'eat meat pies watching TV, negative, knock down tall poppies type'. They just weren't like that. I was lucky to have them as family initially and I suppose, in a sense, it followed on from there. I have a daughter now who is in this school in Year 6 and that has had a meaning for me as well.

SONS AND DAUGHTERS

The same science teacher, when confronted by the differences in achievement levels of boys and girls, reflected on why this might be so by referring to his experiences with his own children:

I am a scientist and I don't normally do this but I definitely have a 'pet' theory. The reason is I saw my own son go through this. He is now sixteen years old and he was one of those who were between 9-10 when computer games came in. Without a doubt, when you look at usage, about 87% of the usage is by boys and only 13% is by girls. Around 1989-1990 when the swapover occurred you had a huge number of computer based games coming into society. That has continued and it is getting bigger and bigger all the time.

You go into any house and you rarely find the girl playing on the computer games; you will almost always find a boy. I reckon that is such a big time waster. If they are the sort of games where they use their mind and they are solving problems or anything like that, it would be different. But when they are sitting there and just killing people, or knocking people down and trying to break their arms there is a whole generation being lost.

Because both my wife and I consider ourselves to be gender neutral, we have even gone as far as to ban our son from any electronic gear through the school week, and this includes the television as well. That has had a major effect on his results. He is a pretty smart boy and definitely his mind is always elsewhere. If he knew he could play a game he would. With our daughter we have had no trouble at all because she hardly ever wants to play them. She might pop in for five minutes and get bored and leave it to play outdoors with the rabbit or something like that.