Week 5 Assignment 2- 1st August 2020
Gender stereotyping and sexism is an -ism that I have experienced all my life and it was only a few years ago that I was able to concisely label what my experiences had been. In my culture, the females are expected to be domestic, agreeable, in charge of the children regardless of the fact that they may not be nurturing, etc while the males are not subjected to such demands. Meanwhile, anything out of the ordinary was considered not feminine. Family members have perpetuated this bias which has affected the way I discuss certain issues with them because they are stuck on gender stereotyping.
I have also noticed that at my children's school, the school principal seem to always contact me when they need to pass certain messages across. An example would be them always calling me whenever my children do not feel well in school or if they need some personal items, etc and never their father. Even though I am happy that they were considerate in reaching out to me, they never asked us who should be contacted first in case of situations like that but rather assumed that as the mother, I would be in a better position to handle it.
With working with children, a consequence I might expect for them based on the -ism I have experienced is that I plan to make my classroom as gender neutral as possible. This would be evident in the chores and activities in the classroom, because eliminating the restrictions and demands placed on any gender, I hope would help them in their self-discovery and hopefully steer them in the right direction towards autonomy. As for families, I plan to ask clearly from both parents who should be contacted first if there is any information about their child that needs to be passed across. This would not only ensure that I am not gender stereotyping them but that I am also respectful to whatever arrangements they have in their household.
Time Well Spent
At the start of this program, I did not know what to expect because I made a complete career change from having a Masters degree in Biochem...
Latanya Myricks
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog and I find myself doing that as well always contacting the mother when I need something pertaining to the child. I never considered asking who would be best to contact and most of the time the parent never specify until they don't want you to contact the other parent they will make that known. Communicating with both parents regularly will be my goal this upcoming school year.I will consider what you said about being gender neutral.
This is a very interesting blog and many children as well as adults still go through gender stereotyping. In the classroom, having conversations, implementing activities, and reading age appropriate books concerning gender stereotyping can help children deal with situations that they go through.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that you've experienced that kind of gender stereotyping. Sometimes I think its so ingrained in our culture as a whole, some people don't realize they're doing it. I wonder if thats the case with your principal. I have a coworker like that, and its been difficult form me to address it with them because the reaction in the past has been that I'm overreacting or oversensitive if I acknowledge forms of sexism. Its a frustrating position to be in! Hopefully we can be more gender neutral in our classrooms and teach the next generation to be better at fair and equitable treatment!
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to gender sterotyping, I am the teacher who teach my students that in the classroom we are all equal. And anything that a boy can do a girl can do it too. And visa versa with my boys they can do anything a girl can do... I dont believe in men and women having specfic roles. That in my opinion is wrong with the world today the children should be able to make their own decision as long as it is the right decision
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