In chapter 8 the text refers to bias women face in school. Gender- stereotyped curricula (p 194) is something I think many women are faced with at some point in school.
I remember when I was entering high school I was so excited with the fact that I would be able to pick and choose courses I was interested in. It felt liberated to be able to take academic courses that would be in a field I was interested in (business). I remember early on going to my counselor to pick classes and expressing what courses I was looking for and then having her place me in home economics. I am not saying there is anything wrong with courses like that but that wasn’t what my interest was in. I felt like she wasn’t listening to my desires she just saw me as another girl. I was more interested in the accounting and business law courses and she made it such a challenge for me to get in those courses. She would often ask me “if I was sure” or “wouldn’t I feel more comfortable taking home economics like my friends.” I was so taken back by having a woman pigeon-hole me like that it really pissed me off! I mean aren’t we suppose to stick together and here she was trying to turn me into a housewife! I didn’t want to cook or sew or play with fake babies I wanted to tell her that every girl doesn’t want to do that with her life. I was upset I had to eventually change counselors. I felt like there was a huge amount of pressure (p 198) just to take what was offered to me and not make a big deal about it. I didn’t want people to look at me like I was the person to make something out of nothing but at the same time I wanted to explore courses I actually wanted to pursue after high school. I never have been the type to hold my tongue because I was taught “a closed mouth doesn’t get fed.” I took a lot of slack because not only would I not take that classes she wanted me to but I went on to have another counselor because my needs weren’t being met. It was a little difficult in the beginning to have to see her when I would see my new counselor but in the end I felt I made the right decision (regardless of what others thought). I ended up with a man as my final counselor and I never had a problem getting into any of the classes I wanted. I don’t know if he just didn’t want have the same issues that I had with my first counselor or if he really was interested in keeping me engaged but I never had a problem with getting the classes I wanted. I felt like he pushed me harder because he saw my potential.
10 comments:
Blogger Daphne2508 said...
Rachel, sexual harassment that I think everyone can relate to either personally or to someone they know. I too can name countless times that I have been approached at work because of something I had on and a comment being made to upset me. I feel like there is a lot of gender intimidation that I have felt that has prevented me from reporting the harassment (p285) I don’t know I just don’t want to be the one to stand up and say anything because in the media when I see a woman standing up for herself she seems to be put in a position to feel miserable. Even though the attention is not wanted the woman is made to feel like she did something wrong when she reports it. I know we say this is something that needs to not be tolerated but no one person wants to go against everyone and then be label as trouble maker. It just seems easier to just brush it off and keep it moving. I know some may feel that is this approach is the wrong one but I know more people take this approach then not. If we were better protected and really felt like there would not be some form of retaliation then I don’t think the stigma of reporting harassment would be what it is now.
May 29, 2008 5:57 AM
Blogger Daphne2508 said...
Interesting Jennifer, in the text its states women should be protected from the gruesome realities of war. This is ironic, as women have been involved in and killed in every war fought by our nation (p 234). In the military there is still the stigma that women need to be protected. Even though many feel women need to be protected they aren’t given the same opportunities as men because they aren’t able to prove themselves. The text talks about how being in combat duty is vital with advancement and since women aren’t allowed they advancement is difficult. I feel like this is discrimination based on gender, it shouldn’t be tolerated or allowed. Women should be able to make there own decisions on what line of work they want to do just as a man does.
May 29, 2008 10:11 AM
Daphne2508 said...
Trish, wow this is something I can really relate to. Even though the ideal size of a woman is a size 14 the media has us thinking that that is too heavy. Even though we know that media photos are digitized and altered we still have a distorted perception of what we should look like. Its human nature to never be satisfied but we are constantly bombarded with models that are pencil thin we deceive ourselves to think we won’t be happy until we look like them. We are shown that thin people are so happy and everything goes right for them so we kill ourselves in an effect to achieve that. We obsess over our bodies because of the things we are shown and it effects both women and men (p 153)I can't even say that you can ever really let that go but at the end of the day we need to all be comfortable in our own skin. Even Marilyn Monroe was a size 14/16 and she was (is) considered one of our greatest sex symbols. So we can be attractive at any size.
May 29, 2008 8:13 AM
Daphne:
I'm not sure when you were in high school but it's disconcerting that, if this was just in the last few years, your counselor wouldn't have a better understanding of the gender-stereotyped curricula.
Our text also refers to the fact that the higher-level the educational institution the more male the faculty it. This would account for a lot of the gender-stereotyping in advising but you had a woman!
I know my oldest daughter, Kelli, is a senior Meteorology major which has been traditionally a male field for two reasons. One is the overwhelming amount of math and science courses and the second is that a lot of females who begin in that major drop out. her experience has been that she has had to fight harder for help when she's struggling and is not given the same encouragement as the male students. Although she's been tempted to change majors on more than one occasion, sometimes because of treatment by professors, she's stuck with it. By the way, she has only one female professor for any of her major-related math and science courses!!
Dori
Wow! And, the sad thing is that this stereotyping still exists. The unexpected detailis that it was a woman counselor who tried to "keep you down". It was the male counselor that helped you explore your career interests! So many times, woman like to "pick on" the men for holding us down...
I teach a business communication course and it has been refreshing to see more and more woman taking this course and majoring in business tracks such as accounting, marketing, human resources. I like to think that all my students will be in managerial positions some day...and it is nice to see that maybe, in the future the "glass ceiling" will no longer exist with the increase in woman majoring in business.
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Hi! Daphne It was interestng to see someone else had the same scenario in picking up the courses after high school,I wanted to take science courses but my family insisted on home-economics.As mentioned in Wood's pg.192gendered education around the globe. Population Action International have
found significant differences in the education of males and females in 50 countries.
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