Goals
Brief description of the issue
Aside from all socialization agents such as the media, advertising, books, family and peers, to name only a few, interactions of school staff with students also contribute to reinforce gender stereotypes. On one side, educators, just as other adults, tend to perceive boys and girls in a different way, and on the other side, to have different expectations of them, in addition to acting differently with boys and girls (CSF, 2016; Duru-Bellat, 2010; Solar, 2018).
To be able to work on breaking down gender stereotypes and unlearn what we’ve learned through socialization in order to change the way we see boys and girls, we must in the first place be aware of those biases. In the book Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald reveal hidden biases based on their experience with the Implicit Association Test, that is the test they’ve used to measure different biases.
The version of the test looking at gender stereotypes, the Gender-Career Implicit Association Test, is available for everyone to undertake online. It takes about 5 minutes to complete and will give you an idea of how much you have implicit biases about gender roles.
References
Conseil du statut de la femme (2016). Avis: L’égalité des sexes en milieu scolaire. Québec, Gouvernement du Québec, 154 pages. http://conference.ctreq.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Textes-chercheurs_mixite-des-genres.-pdf-fusionne.pdf
Duru-Bellat, M. (2010). “Ce que la mixité fait aux élèves”. Revue de l’OFCE, 114(3), 197-212. https://www.cairn.info/revue-de-l-ofce-2010-3-page-197.htm
Solar, C. (2018). “Nous devons élever nos filles et nos fils autrement”, Les conférences du consensus, October 10th, 2018. http://conference.ctreq.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Textes-chercheurs_mixite-des-genres.-pdf-fusionne.pdf