Blog 7: Inequalities in Schooling
The focus of this chapter was a discussion on the structural and social inequalities that are prevalent and yet preventable in schooling. This chapter attributes inequalities to "ascribed characteristics" that an individual has. "Ascribed characteristics are the features of an individual which they are born with, such as race, sex and the social class of one's family" (193). The feature of sex or gender is what stuck out to me from this chapter.
During a discussion on gender inequalities, the text provides statistical evidence which states that "in 2010, 70% of all women aged 25 to 44 has post-secondary education, compared to 64% of males in the same age range" (194). This statistic surprised me, I obviously knew that the enrollment of women in post-secondary education has increased over the years but I was not aware that there was a gap of 6 points in "favour" of female enrollment. However, it did not surprise me that of those women who did attend post-secondary there is a "sharp underrepresentation of women in the natural sciences, applied sciences, engineering and mathematics" (194). Just head over to the engineering building during a break between classes and see for yourself. And it should have come to no surprise to any of us that there is a female domination in "caring professions" such as education, just look at our class of 60 (7 to 53 in male students between our two early years cohorts). But why do these representations exist? "Simpkin, Davis-Deane and Eccles have found evidence of girls feeling less confident in their perceived abilities in math and science skills than boys" (194). This suggests environmental or nurture facts that support gender stereotypes and are likely the reason for the overrepresentation in "caring professions" and underrepresentation in others. I personally did not feel discouraged to take science or mathematics courses in high school, I was actually encouraged to because of my aspirations to enroll in post-secondary education. It is encouraging to note that there has been efforts made to encourage female students to pursue further education in the sciences (194). Canadian Association for Girls in Science is targeted for girls aged 7 to 16, and includes female guest scientists from various fields come to talk about their profession with students (194).
Discussion Question:
For the females in our class, did you feel that you were encouraged/discouraged from following scientific/mathematical interests in school?
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