Gender affects the teaching profession in many ways. In a personal experience growing up, I always enjoyed language arts classes and history classes more than math and science while my male counterparts seemed to generally enjoy mathematics and science classes more. Looking through some articles that stated that subjects like language and history seemed to come across as more feminine while other subjects like math and science came off as more masculine. It is interesting to dive into this discussion of gender division in things that we normally would not notice. For instance, why are subjects that are generally considered easier "feminine" while harder subjects are considered "masculine". Also, these subjects that require more creativity as well are seen as feminine. It is an interesting take on gender inequality. We know that education for men and woman are generally more equal now and that previously was not in earlier years. As future educators, we should be doing our part to allow our students to know that regardless of their favorite subjects and creativity they should be supported in anything they strive in. Being and showing interest in feminine things as a man does not diminish your manhood. We should be able to not only be a safe space for our students if they feel like they have no other options but should also support and push our students to the best potential regardless of stereotypes around us. For instance, I will try to implement a weekly private chat session with my students to discuss any issues regarding their lives and school. As well as informing my students of the effects stereotypes have on people.
Hello Erika! I think its interesting how you drew attention to the fact that our male peers seem to prefer math subjects while our female counter parts tend to enjoy language arts classes. This made me curious about the teachers in those subjects, and whether they tend to be male or female. We know that across the board, the teaching profession is dominated by women. A quick google search showed me that out of these two subjects, the few men we have in the teaching career tend to gravitate toward math classes with 46.1% of all math teachers in the US being male, according to zippia.com (link at the bottom.) I wonder if this has anything to do with representation and identity. Perhaps the boys tend to like math more than the girls because their teacher is a boy, so they are able to imagine themselves performing successfully with the subject. Maybe the boys don't see enough men teaching literature to imagine themselves as a writer. What do you think?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.zippia.com/math-teacher-jobs/demographics/
Hey Erika! I really enjoyed your input on this topic because growing up, I was always more interested in my English classes than in math or science. However, I personally would find it super cool when I would come across a guy who was really into art, or English. For example, when I was in High School, there was this football player (mr. popular), who took art extremely serious, and was AMAZING at it. Although, his teammates and friends would make fun of him, while I thought it was super cool that he had a passion for it. I think it is ridiculous that as a society, we have categorized genders into certain subjects. As a future teacher, I want to make sure that my students are encouraged to try out all subjects/activities, and find a passion for something that they are truly interested in, regardless of what society has decided as normal. Thanks for sharing!
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