Education and Gender Equality Series

2. Gender Equality
in Schools

Girls learning through active participation, Mekong Delta, Vietnam*

This paper discusses the content and delivery of education and

how it can reflect and reproduce gender inequalities. Girls and
boys learning and interaction with each other, and the teacher, are
influenced by ways of teaching, the content of the curriculum, and
relations within the classroom. The paper considers these aspects
of education provision curriculum, teaching and learning, and the
dynamics of the classroom and school. It recommends changes
needed to ensure that education provision will promote gender
equality.
Gender equality in schools: the curriculum
teaching, and gender equality
Education for All (EFA) means enrolling and retaining all girls and
boys in school. It is also about ensuring that girls and women of all
ages develop their full potential through education and are able to
ensure their full and equal participation in building a better world.
For many girls, gender inequality is a feature both of their lives and
of their experience of education. Gender equality in teaching is a
central component of a good-quality education. To increase equality
of access to education, and to sustain progress towards Education For
All, it is necessary to develop teaching methods, new ways of
learning, and curricula that enable girls and boys to participate in
learning as equals. The culture of a school and its practices outside of
formal lessons, for example, in the playground or during meal times,
also affect how girls and boys learn. So gender equality needs to be a
central part of the development of the school curriculum and ways of
teaching.
Children will want to come to school and will enjoy the experience of
learning if schools implement good-quality gender-equitable
curricula, and ways of teaching. Governments have a responsibility
to develop gender-equitable education policies for childrens
learning, as well as for their long-term well-being.

What is the curriculum?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the curriculum as the subjects
comprising a course of study in a school or college. It reflects the
knowledge that society considers valuable and appropriate to be
taught in schools. As society changes, the curriculum will also
change, as will the way in which it is viewed and what is considered
valuable. This means that the curriculum, and teaching practices, can
express ideas about gender equality, or can reproduce ideas and
practices marked by gender inequality. Teaching and learning
materials, evaluation and assessment procedures, and language
policy are also components of the curriculum.
Over the past ten years there has been a great deal of curriculum
reform as states reassess their national identity or their position in the
global economy (for example in Bolivia, Ghana, and Viet Nam). The
curriculum, a key piece of national legislation, is often amended after
changes in government or as a result of the influence of powerful
social movements. A national education policy and a national
curriculum document express the States commitment in terms of
providing education for all children.

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Gender equality and the curriculum
In order to increase demand for girls education, the value and
relevance of the education must be clear. The way in which girls,
their families, and teachers view education and the content of the
curriculum, will be influenced by gender equality in wider society.
Across the world, assumptions about what is appropriate for boys
and girls to learn can undermine equality in learning. For example, in
many societies it is assumed that girls are not good at mathematics
and that boys cannot learn about the care of young children.
Curriculum assumptions such as these, and the teaching that
accompanies them, may reinforce gender inequalities, with girls often
channelled into lower status subjects. In western Europe and North
America, as well as in countries such as Peru, Bangladesh, and South
Africa, girls have gained equal access to schooling. However this does
not mean they have gained equal access to the curriculum, and the
power that is related to certain types of knowledge.

A holistic approach to (gender) equality in the curriculum

In textbooks used for Hindi language teaching in Madhya Pradesh, there
has been a conscious effort to present girls in positive roles. Famous
women from history are included, for example, women who fought for their
states, and women renowned for their educational achievements and
service to society. Clear messages on the importance of girls education
and the need for equal opportunities are included.
However, the tendency to cast the positive roles of women in the
characters of the idealised and exceptionally heroic has not been very
effective. In addition, gender stereotyping and inequalities persist in the
narratives. Women appear largely in maternal roles, while the decision
makers and protectors tend to be male. In one textbook (now revised) a
lesson on womens empowerment was placed next to a lesson with a very
patronizing and alienating description of a tribal community, which was
labelled as a criminal community.1

The dynamics of teaching and learning in the

classroom
Development of the curriculum to address gender inequality cannot
happen in isolation from other aspects of schooling, particularly ways
of teaching, learning, and interaction within the classroom. Whatever
the content of the curriculum, equity will not be achieved if girls are
discouraged from speaking, if boys absorb a disproportionate
amount of the teachers energy, nor if the physical environment does
not support equal access to education (for example, the provision of
girls toilets and wheelchair access).
Some of the reasons why girls have learning problems include the
low expectations of teachers regarding their intellectual abilities,
coupled with a low level of feedback from teachers. In addition, in

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some countries teachers say that they enjoy teaching boys more than
girls, especially if the girls are seen as passive. Girls low expectations
of themselves contribute to the problem, as does a lack of female
teachers in high-status subjects, such as maths and science. Textbooks
often reinforce the low expectations of women and girls, as do
curriculum and examination materials, while the use of physical
space in schools also marginalises girls.2
The curriculum is only as good as the teachers who deliver it. Despite
extensive gender inequalities outside school, teachers can make a
difference inside school. If teachers assume that a girl can learn
mathematics, it will affect their approach to teaching girls and their
expectations of what girls can achieve in the subject. If teachers are
seen as facilitators of learning, rather than merely deliverers of
knowledge, then they are obliged to ensure that all children learn.
Good policy frameworks on gender equality are a first step in
addressing the problem, and many governments have them. A
second step is to ensure that these frameworks guide the
development of good policies on ways of teaching and learning in
order to achieve high-quality results. To improve practice, teachers,
head teachers, and government officers need training, and their ways
of working need to be endorsed and supported by the community.

What might a gender-equitable approach to

schooling look like?
Gender equality can be associated with a superficial focus on girls
education, to the exclusion of boys. There is a need to go beyond
simple access issues and ensure a comprehensive understanding of
gender. A gender-equity programme should make an assessment of
the school looking at four key questions:
What perceptions of masculinity and femininity are children
bringing to school, and what are they acting out in the classroom
and the playground?
What are the dominant images of masculinity and femininity that
the school conveys to children?
Is gender equality a concern in terms of what the school wants
and expects of its teachers?
What initiatives, strategies, and projects, can the whole school
undertake to develop a programme for gender equality?3
Making schools more girl-friendly and gender equitable means
challenging the culture of authority, hierarchy, and social control in
the majority of schools. At a general level (it will differ according to
context), it would mean changes to curriculum and to classroom
organisation to allow increased participation of girls and women. A
girl-friendly school would encourage questioning of the curriculum,

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the breaking down of hierarchies and power networks that exclude
girls and women. Head teachers and teachers would have a greater
understanding of the conditions which lead to bullying, racism,
sexism, and homophobic behaviour, replacing them with more
successful forms of intervention. In addition, some value would be
placed on students experience and knowledge, with students being
more actively involved in planning and evaluating their work.
Students would be encouraged to challenge narrow-minded
concepts, and prejudices, and envision an expanded and divergent
future.4

Making teaching and the curriculum gender

equitable
There is already a great deal of work being done at national and
international levels to influence curriculum change to include gender
equality, and to make governments accountable (although this work
on accountability tends to focus more closely on issues of quality in
general than on gender).

Partnerships for non-formal curriculum development

Experience in India has shown that developing courses and curricula for
out-of-school and adolescent girls calls for strategic, and effective
partnerships in practice. This would ensure a sharing of expertise between
university professionals, womens groups, NGOs, and education
functionaries, for the transforming potential of the course to be fully
explored.
Curriculum design for non-formal education, through academicactivist
partnerships, was put in place in programmes such as Mahila Samakhya,
Lok Jumbish, and the National Literacy Campaigns. For instance, curricula
and resource manuals on health education were developed for a
residential course for young women, and numeracy manuals were
prepared using womens indigenous knowledge of folk and street
mathematics.5

In schools and teacher training colleges the curriculum is usually full,

which means it is not easy to integrate a gender equality perspective
in the design, content and teaching approach of the many subjects
that teachers may have to cope with. Moreover, curricula are often
developed by experts and owned by the State, so it is difficult to
lobby for change where this might be seen to challenge government
control. But, where diversity is recognised and participatory
processes are employed, women and girls from different
backgrounds can participate in discussions about curriculum
decisions and how they are represented considering that they are a
diverse group.
When considering how teaching and the curriculum can be made
genderequitable, these areas need attention:

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 Curriculum content: we need to consider what girls from poor, and
marginalised environments, are offered by their schooling, and to
provide, for example, literacy learning in a way that enhances
their confidence, so that they can begin to transform their lives.
Learning materials: often images in textbooks are simply check-
listed for their portrayal of gendered images. Children do not
necessarily have simplistic, preconditioned responses to images in
textbooks, and we need a more sophisticated understanding of
and response to how children learn about gender from textbooks.
Language of instruction and literacy: children who are
geographically or culturally marginalised from mainstream
education may find themselves being taught in a language that
they do not use. Girls and women often have less access to, and
use of, national or prestige languages than men. In what ways is
the language of instruction empowering or disabling for girls and
boys differently?
Methods of evaluation and assessment: examinations tend to
dominate assessment, but other methods should be used, such as
continuous assessment. Girls could have more equal
opportunities in school if teachers talk to them more and
encourage them, for instance by giving them prizes for
participating in different classroom activities.6

Educating the teachers

Types of gender training courses
Governments have a responsibility to develop gender equality in
teaching through the courses and practical materials that they
provide. Teacher education needs to equip teachers to promote an
understanding of the profound nature of gender inequity and to
overcome the resultant barriers to learning. Ensuring that gender
equity is a central theme throughout a programme of teacher
education, rather than delivered in one-off sessions, is likely to
ingrain understanding more effectively. Training needs to help
teachers to develop practical solutions, and should be accompanied
by monitoring and follow-up support. The efforts of pre-service
training institutions, providers of in-service and ongoing professional
development, need to be co-ordinated, and well documented.
Building networks of teachers to work together or collaborating
through school clusters and teachers centres, are ways of sustaining
training and providing ongoing support for teachers and education
officials.7

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Training teachers for gender equality, Mukono, Uganda
With the introduction of Universal Primary Education in Uganda in 1997,
there was a huge expansion in enrolment, and hundreds of untrained or
unlicensed teachers were employed to meet the new demands. The
Teacher Development Management Scheme (TDMS) was introduced to
promote gender equality in education and convey information about
HIV/AIDS. TDMS co-ordinating tutors are used as important mediators
between policy makers and teachers, and between policy makers and
representatives of the community and parents. They make teachers aware
of the gender dynamics of classrooms, and the kinds of identities and
relationships that boys and girls forge at school. Teachers are encouraged
to see their pupils both as sons and daughters of parents with particular
views about education, and as boys and girls with rights and obligations.8

Relationships and styles of learning

The teaching process is about the relationships between teachers and
learners in schools. What is considered to be good teaching and
what promotes successful learning will change, according to who is
involved and the context in which the learning takes place. Teachers
need to be able to work with different learning styles. Teacher
education needs to equip teachers to work through some of the
implications of local gender issues, and to support teachers in
developing the confidence to encourage participation from pupils
and the local community in shaping a vision for gender equality. For
example, men tend to dominate school management committees,
while women fulfil the more domestic roles. The school needs to
interact with the local community to ensure that significant local
issues of gender inequality (for example, abuse of girls by their peers
and by teachers) are analysed and addressed.

Teaching and living gender equality

Teacher education also needs to address not only how teachers and
other education officials teach gender equality, but how they live this
in their private lives, changing personal behaviour and challenging
some of the deeply held assumptions that perpetuate inequalities.
Student teachers, and in-service teachers, need opportunities to
examine and understand their own gender identities, and to
understand how gender discrimination takes place in schools, as well
as their role in addressing it.9 For example, teachers have to learn
how to make their students aware of their sexuality and, in the age of
HIV/AIDS, provide a model of risk-free behaviour.

Linking the school and the community

In tandem with the school, clubs and parents/students/teachers
associations can provide venues and forums where strong gender-
equality messages can be explored and reinforced. Different types of
extra-curricular activities can help children who have been silenced to
articulate their needs. There is a need for teachers, NGOs, and
community-based organisations to work alongside parents and

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communities to think about the ways in which they can support boys
and girls to learn well at school, in order that both can participate in
society.

Girls clubs in Liberia

The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) has promoted girls
clubs in Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania. In Liberia, together with
Oxfam GB, FAWE has introduced after-school clubs for girls in primary and
junior high schools to encourage them to continue with schooling, and to
help them analyse their educational problems and find ways of solving
them. The girls are mostly living independently in severe economic
hardship, and struggling to continue schooling in a social environment
characterised by violence and displacement.
Each club receives start-up funding to help the girls to generate further
resources for their club through activities such as making and selling soap.
FAWE/Oxfam support for the clubs includes training of the club supervisor,
gender training for school staff, and workshops for girls on topics such as
HIV/AIDS, sexual violence, and family planning.
Future plans to develop the clubs include introducing a life-skills
programme and vocational training for girls.10

Recommendations
Make curricula and teaching more gender-equitable
The curriculum, and ways of teaching and learning, can reproduce
ideas and practices marked by gender inequality. Gender
inequalities, and wider social, political and economic inequalities, can
influence the access that girls and boys have to different parts of the
curriculum. Teachers awareness of, and approaches to, gender issues
in teaching and learning, are crucial if gender-equitable education is
to be achieved. Curriculum content, the relationship between teachers
and students, and teacher education, require special attention and
policy development if genderequitable education is to be achieved.
To achieve the recommendations below, adequate resources are
needed, including both financial and human resources. Good practice
should be documented, shared, and used to influence policy making
and changes in practice.

Governments and non-State providers should:

Ensure that curriculum development involves consultation at all
levels of society about gender equality, and what decisions mean
for women and girls, especially those who may be marginalised
because of language or social practice.
Develop and implement government-agreed standards for quality
and equality in education.

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 Ensure that there are strong legal measures to outlaw sexual
violence and harassment in school, with clear procedures for
dealing with abuse, which are widely communicated.
Ensure that training in gender equality is included in the teacher-
education programme, both in pre-service training and in-service
college-based or school-based training.
Develop the capacity and role of the inspectorate and gender
units to support gender equality in the classroom.
Assess the planning and budgeting processes, and ensure that
officials at all levels have the capacity to implement them. Put in
place any necessary training.

Headteachers and teachers should:

Inform themselves about existing policy for gender equality.
Develop school-level policies for gender-equitable approaches to
teaching and learning.
Move beyond gender stereotypes and investigate the schools and
teachers, own values and culture, and aspirations for gender
equality.
Be trained and empowered to analyse and challenge gender
stereotyping and gender bias in curriculum materials, in language
use and relations in the school and with the community.
Recognise the many pressures on women teachers, and encourage
supportive networks and practices.
Parents and community members should:
Take an active interest in their childrens learning and ensure that
the school learning environment is healthy and safe.
Play an active part in the management of the education resources
to ensure they are used for the benefit of both girls and boys
equitably.

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Notes

*The photo is of a maths class, with the student pushing forward a paper for
the teacher, which she had completed on a particular maths exercise.

1
Adapted from A. Sharma, (2003) Experiences of Thinking through Gender
Equality and the Curriculum: The Case of Madhya Pradesh, Beyond Access
Seminar 1,
http://k1.ioe.ac.uk/schools/efps/GenderEducDev/Amita%20Sharma%20paper.pdf
2
Adapted from M. Arnott, (2004) Gender Equality and Opportunities in the
Classroom: Thinking about Citizenship, Pedagogy and the Rights of
Children, Beyond Access Seminar 2,
http://k1.ioe.ac.uk/schools/efps/GenderEducDev/Arnot%20paper.pdf
3
Adapted from Skelton (2001), in Arnot (2004) Ibid.
4
Adapted from G. Weiner (2004), Learning from Feminism: Education,
Pedagogy and Practice, Beyond Access Seminar 2,
http://k1.ioe.ac.uk/schools/efps/GenderEducDev/Gaby%20Weiner%20paper.pdf
5
Adapted from A. Sharma (2003), op.cit.
6
K. Burns (2004) Uganda: Harriet Nambubiru Talks to Kim Burns in Equals,
Issue 6, June 2004.
7
The issue of teacher recruitment is discussed in Paper 6: Capacity
Development for Achieving Gender Equality in Education.
8
E. Unterhalter, E. Kioko Echessa, R. Pattman, R. Rajagopalan and F. NJai
(2004), Scaling Up Girls Education: Towards a Scorecard on Girls
Education in the Commonwealth Beyond Access Project, Institute of
Education, University of London and Oxfam GB.
9
F. Chege (2004), Teachers Gendered Lives, HIV/AIDS and Pedagogy.
Beyond Access Seminar 2,
http://k1.ioe.ac.uk/schools/efps/GenderEducDev/Chege%20paper.pdf
10
H. Johnston and S. Aikman (2005) Discussion Paper on the Liberia
Education Programme Oxford: Oxfam GB.

Cover photograph: Sheila Aikman, Oxfam GB

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 Oxfam GB, December 2005
This paper was produced by the Beyond Access Project. It is part of a series of
papers written to inform public debate on development and humanitarian policy
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For comments on issues raised in this paper, please e-mail:
[email protected]
Other papers in this series can be found at:
www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/education/gender_education.htm

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