Engendering Equity

Apply the Research on Gender
To Your School Library

by Debbie Abilock

Revised from an article published in Emergency Librarian vol. 24. no. 5 May/June, 1997: 17-18.

While we are biologically male or female, our gender is socially constructed. Boys and girls are generally educated side-by-side in schools, yet their experiences are profoundly different. Failing at Fairness (Sadker & Sadker, 1995), a report on the groundbreaking 1992 study by the American Association of University Women, and Reviving Ophelia (Pipher,1994) alerted both educators and the general public to the fact that schools that girls may experience diminished self-worth and erosion of academic achievement during adolescence. Responses have ranged from United Nations' initiatives (e.g., UNESCO's Gender Mainstreaming) and national frameworks  (e.g., Gender Equity; A Framework for Australian Schools) to segregated girl and boy groupings within individual classrooms.  While there is renewed interest among education policy makers in separate schools for boys and girls (Salomone, 2003) , most programs remain coeducational.  Thus, the question is how school librarians in a variety of settings can incorporate gender research into their programs and practices?

What the research says on the portrayal of girls and women  A series of research studies during the 1970's and early 1980's reported that male protagonists dramatically outnumbered females in children's literature. Ernst (1995) confirms that, although there has been a gradual decrease in gender imbalance in fiction, girls continue to be portrayed as passive and dependent, while boys are imaginative, clever, brave, creative, and resourceful.  More broadly, media studies repeatedly show that images in popular culture affect societal attitudes and the behavior of both men and women.

Application to collection development  Obviously, librarians should aggressively collect fiction which portrays females in non-stereotypical roles and choose balanced selections for reading aloud, storytelling, and seminars such as Literary Club. Discussions with students and presentations to parents and teachers can examine materials which stereotypes in literary works. Invited education equity speakers (e.g. AAUW), as well as book fair authors and subject experts, should be deliberately balanced between males and females. 

Seek guidance in collection development by searching beyond traditional review sources for books, articles, videos, curricula, and software.

What the research says on reading habits and topic interests  Girls will read books about males or females, while boys choose fiction about males or avoid fiction as a "feminine" genre. Although many interests are common, a large-scale gender analysis of reading preferences reports that males select graphic media such as comics, computers and newspapers (Hall & Coles, 1999) as well as topics such as transportation, sports, and war, while females show greater interest in horses, mystery fiction, romance fiction, and fine arts and crafts (Sturm, 2003).  Girls read more than boys, but they choose narrative fiction to the neglect of other genres. Simpson (1996) argues that boys' nonfiction reading is more "congruent with the acquisition of social power and financial success" since secondary school and the workplace demand the reading of expository and information texts and the writing of reports, procedures, explanations and arguments.

Application to curriculum design  Draw from nonfiction genres (e.g., newspapers, web pages and nonfiction texts) for reading aloud and booktalks.  Encourage resistant readings of literature in Literary Club and Socratic Seminar texts.  Find ways to redesign tradition research essays so that students write debate speeches, briefings and persuasive letters.  For example, collaborate with a math teacher to turn a biography report about a mathematician into an investigation in which students research job opportunities in math or science, then write a résumé (e.g., Job Search: Mathematician).  Students benefit from enriched understanding of applied math or science career opportunities while they are reading and writing in workplace genres.  

Seek opportunities for students to experience, rather than just read, about careers (e.g., Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work).  I sponsored our 6th grade students' participation in Hewlett Packard's e-mail mentoring program in which year-long one-to-one mentor relationships were created through e-mail between students and HP employees, a program that can be replicated using local parents.  

Gender equity intersects with multicultural studies (Sleeter & Grant, 2002), global human rights, social justice and media literacy.  For example, Maryland's Media Literacy Standards includes units and activities for elementary, middle and high school students designed to raise awareness of gender stereotypes in the media.  Curriculum which integrates gender dialogue and equity practices into content-areas is more likely to have a lasting impact.

What the research says on information literacy behaviors Schooling has traditionally rewarded girls for neatness and following the rules, rather than independent problem-solving. Teachers often complete tasks and provide solutions for girls instead of encouraging risk-taking and creative thinking. A study by Tracey Burdick (1996) on the impact of gender on information seeking reveals that girls are more likely to be optimistic as they start their projects, but significantly less confident than boys throughout the research process, even when they are successfully focused. Girls tend to work collaboratively and seek help from friends and family, while boys browse independently and are less likely to ask for help during their search. Boys perceive that the most important task in research is gathering information resources and completing the project, whereas girls prefer "to investigate and formulate."  Extensive research done by Kuhlthau (2004) confirms that all students are likely to struggle with the central task of formulating a focus for research.  Her six-stage Information Search Process model outlines a common progression of feelings, thoughts and actions that learners of any age experience during an information search. 

Application to information literacy  While coaching students in the information literacy process, librarians must support risk-taking to encourage girls to move beyond rule-bound strategies and to promote new learning for every student.  In your own practice, recognize that the same gender-based inclinations to follow rules could result in your teaching information literacy as a step-by-step routine rather than an information inquiry process.  During library research all students need the librarian's mediation: reassurance about their capabilities, acknowledgment of their feelings, and instruction at Kuhlthau's (2004) zone of intervention to support what the student cannot do alone at his or her level of knowledge at that particular stage of research.  Since boys and quiet students are less likely to ask for help, approach them with offers of assistance even if they don't request it. Extensive scaffolding in the initial stages of task definition---to activate prior knowledge, to brainstorm and build visual representations of the problem, to create questions which structure the search and to design an initial plan---is essential before students jump into resource gathering. Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need and Developing Depth of Search: Choosing Invisible Web Databases support this thoughtful planning before searching.  Armed with an understanding of Kuhlthau's work, the school librarian can anticipate and diagnose the information seeker’s problems and determine the most effective level and type of intervention for the particular stage of research.

What the research says on classroom interactions  Generally students gravitate toward gender-based friendships in both school tasks and other activities as they progress through elementary school.  According to Chapman (1997), boys are about eight times more likely than girls to call out answers and not be rebuked by the teacher, creating a classroom dominated by the more aggressive style of males.  Added to these general trends, some individuals view the world largely from a gendered point of view, while others do not.

Application to teaching practices  Group interactions in the classroom can develop working styles and attitudes that will carry over into adult life. Deliberate orchestration of mixed groups increases cross-gender competencies and places value on diversity and equity.  Assigning specific jobs within groups mitigates against default stereotypical roles---a girl does not always become the group's "Recorder" or "Timekeeper" and a boy doesn't repeatedly dominate the computer keyboard and mouse.  Authentic, practical ways to group students for equity include: 

The school librarian can model learning, gain insights into teaching and make hidden bias manifest by first presenting a summary of the research about teacher-student interactions to the class and then requesting that a rotating student record the number of times that boys and girls are called on during each class period. Over time, the data collected sensitizes both students and the librarian to classroom inequities, while the process cultivates the group's ownership of the problem. Such transparent teaching clarifies our own beliefs about gender, as we reflect on what and how we present material.  

Good practices benefit everyone.  Waiting five seconds after posing a question increases both the quality of all responses and the likelihood of more female contributors.  Don't assume that girls are interested in researching the role of women for a history project anymore than you would ask an Asian-American student to speak for all Asian-Americans.   Model treating students as individuals by referring to their ideas by name (e.g., "Joe wondered...and then Sara stated...") and avoid making unsubstantiated generalizations (e.g., "Most women..." ).  Understand how attitudes about education and gender are shaped by cultural expectations and social class, so that you can recognize behaviors that result from the intersection of race, class and gender in your class, and address them with sensitivity.

What the research says on professional development  Effective staff development about equitable education must connect to teachers' perceived needs, extend over a period of time, involve active learning, include collective participation of the entire faculty, include both content and process learning, and relate to existing professional initiatives (Birman, et.al., 2000).  

Application to staff development  Schools with a teachers' study group could read and discuss A Great Balancing Act (Chapman, 1997), filled with practical advice on teaching and ways to reveal the unspoken curriculum, as well as specific recommendations for all content-areas.  Seek opportunities to incorporate what you learn in your class into staff development about reading or information literacy. Seek co-teaching opportunities (Villa, et. al., 2004) as a long-term, in-depth way to model practices which foster gender equity.

REFERENCES

Ayers, W., Hunt. J. A. & Quinn, T. (1998).  Teaching for social justice. New York: Teachers College Press.
Brown, J. L. (2004). Making the most of understanding by design.  Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Burdick, Tracey A. (1996) "Success and diversity in information seeking; Gender and the information search styles model."  School Library Media Quarterly. Fall, 1996.
Chapman, Anne (1997).  A great balancing act; Equitable education for girls and boys. Washington, D.C.: National Association of Independent Schools.
Duncan, N. (1999).  Sexual bullying: Gender conflict and pupil culture in secondary schools.  New York: Routledge
Ernst, Shirley B. (1995) "Gender issues in books for children and young adults" in Battling dragons; Issues and controversy in children's literature, ed. by Susan Lehr. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Hall, C. & Coles, M. (1999). Children's reading choices.  New York: Routledge.[Adobe e-book]
---- Jossey-Bass reader on gender in education (2002). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Kindlon, D., & Thompson, M. (1999). Raising Cain. Protecting the emotional life of boys.  New York: Ballantine.
Kuhlthau, C. C. (2004). Seeking meaning; A process approach to library and information services. 2nd ed. Westport , CT : Libraries Unlimited
Lehr, S., ed. (2001).  Beauty, brains and brawn; The construction of gender in children's literature.  Portsmouth, NH
Pipher, Mary (1994).  Reviving Ophelia; Saving the selves of adolescent girls. New York: Putnam, 1994.
Sadker, Myra & Sadker, D. (1995). Failing at fairness; How America's schools cheat girls. New York: Touchstone.
Salomone, R. (2003).  Same, different, equal: Rethinking single-sex schooling. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Simpson, Anne (1996, Dec.). "Fictions and facts: An investigation of the reading practices of girls and boys." English Education: 28(4).
Sleeter, C. E & Grant, C.A. (2002).  Making choices for multicultural education: Five approaches to race, class, and gender.  Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.
Sturm, B. W. (2003).  The information and reading preferences of North Carolina children. School Library Media Research, (6).  Retrieved on Apr.4, 2004.
Villa, R. A., Thousand, J. S., & Nevin, A. I. (2004). A guide to co-teaching; Practical tips for facilitating student learning.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

© Debbie Abilock 1997-2004
revised 4/4/04