Did you know that the majority of girls don’t like playing on mixed gender sports teams at school? Because every time they play no one seems to pass to them. It’s not just sports, it’s everywhere at school. Sexism still exists very much in society today, and children are still learning it along with their lessons.
In 2012 at a little Venezuelan school, Natalie,* who now attends UWCSEA was only 10 years old when she first became a feminist. It all started with her brother’s pair of shorts, when she decided to wear them to school so she could play football in them, it was a great idea until she was stopped on her way to class by a male teacher who inquired why she wasn’t wearing a skirt. She remembers clearly that he told her to ‘change her clothes,’ and that ‘girls should not be wearing shorts.’ When she told him that she was going to play football in them, he told her that ‘girls shouldn’t play football either,’ she was furious. This was her first memorable encounter with gender discrimination.
In 8-6, a normal classroom at UWCSEA, 75% of girls have experienced gender discrimination first hand, in one case Maria,* student from grade 8 was the only girl who showed up at a swimming practice to play a game of water polo only to be told to “stay in the back, and not do anything” she responded to them by saying that she wanted to play, and they told her to “let the guys do it.” Maria* persistently tried to join in the game, but failed, as many girls do. In some cases when teams are forced to have mixed teams, there are ‘rules’ that at least one girl must be on the field at all times, or you must make ten passes to a girl per game. This is clearly just trying to get girls involved in sports, but it’s a feeble attempt to fix the problem. Many girls are put off from sports at a young age, a survey by the Women’s Sport And Fitness Foundation took a survey of 1,500 students, and only 33% of girls said they did an hours worth of exercise per week, and school sports dropout rates for girls are 6 times more than boys.
Many girls have experienced gender discrimination while doing school work, they are often seen as unreliable and given ‘easy’ tasks by their peers. In recent surveys “Girls were generally seen as better at ‘soft’ subjects,” “and boys better at sports, mathematics and computing.” Even some teachers face sexism at their workplace, “Pupils felt that male teachers are ‘more intelligent’ than female teachers” says the Global Campaign for Education (GCE.) Girls who Code is a Non Profit Organization (NGO) who want to close the gender gap in technology and engineering sectors. They focus on getting middle or high school girls to take an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or (STEM.) Why? Because 74% of middle school girls are interested in (STEM,) “but when choosing a college major just 0.4% of high school girls select computer science” say Girls who Code. Girls usually lose interest in (STEM) in high school, Danae King, a writer for The Baltimore Sun says “Experts say women are often a minority in their classes and aren't shown female role models in their field, making it appear inaccessible to them as a career.” It’s true many middle school girls at UWCSEA want more female role models in an array of fields, as they claim it gives them more opportunities for the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment