SEMESTER 4

Course Name: Course 9, Section 1

Subject: GENDER SCHOOL AND SOCIETY

A) Concept of Sex, Gender and Transgender

1. Meaning of sex, gender and the difference between the two terms.

• UNESCO’s Gender Mainstreaming Implementation Framework –terms of gender and sex

• Difference between sex and gender

• Sex

• Sex is natural

• Sex is biological and it refers to visible differences in genitalia and related differences in
procreative functions

• Sex is constant, it remains the same everywhere.

• Sex cannot be changed without complex medical intervention.

• Gender

• Gender is socio-cultural construct

• It refers to the masculine and feminine qualities, behaviour, roles and responsibilities that
society upholds

• Gender is variable; it changes from time to time, culture to culture, even family to family.

• Gender can be changed/ re-oriented.

2. Characteristics of gender.

- characteristics to be identified as either female or male.

-the socially constructed behavior for men and women

Some examples of gender characteristics (WHO)

a) In the United States (and most other countries), women earn significantly less money than men
for similar work

b) In Viet Nam, many more men than women smoke, as female smoking has not traditionally been
considered appropriate
 c) In Saudi Arabia men are allowed to drive cars while women are not

d) In most of the world, women do more housework than men

• Concept of stereotypes

• Masculine & feminine characteristics

• How stereotypes impact on gender ?

c) Concept of transgender with some emphasis on condition of transgender persons in India

• Concept of transgender

• Conditions of transgender at in Educational sphere in India

• Conditions of transgender at Vocational sphere in India

• Conditions of transgender at Political sphere in India

• Health Conditions of transgender

• Legal provisions for the transgenders in India

B) Gender related concepts: patriarchy, feminism, equity and equality, sexuality

1. Meaning & History of Feminism

2. Meaning & Impact of Patriarchy on Society,

3. Meaning of Gender Equity & Promoting Gender

Equity in Schools

4. Meaning of Gender Equality & Gender Equality in

Education with relation to Indian context

5. Meaning of Sexuality(definition by WHO)

Meaning of sexual orientation.

Meaning of Gender Equality & Gender Equality in

Education with relation to Indian context

• Gender equality means that the different behavior, aspirations and needs of women and men
are considered, valued and favored equally.(UNESCO)
 • Promote by revising teaching materials, teacher training curricula and classroom decorations, by
ensuring equal funding for girls’ and boys’ sports, and by addressing the ways in which boys
often receive much more classroom attention than girls. ensuring that schools do not reinforce
gender norms and hierarchies

Meaning of Gender Equity & Promoting Gender

Equity in Schools

• Gender equity means fairness of treatment for women and men, according to their respective
needs.(UNESCO)

• Promoting gender equity –culturally responsive pedagogy ,Multicultural education ,Hidden

curriculum, awareness of constitutional rights .

C) Emergence of Gender Specific Roles: Sociological and Psychological Perspectives.

1. Sociological Perspectives of Gender

- Conflict Theory by Marx

- Feminist Sociological Theory

2. Psychological perspectives of gender

-Biosocial Theory of Gender Role Development

- Gender Schema Theory

Perspectives of Conflict Theory by Marx applied to Gender

• How is gender inequality created and maintained ?

• How can we alter the structures which create gender inequality ?

Perspectives of Conflict Theory by Marx applied to Gender

• Conflict theorists view women as disadvantaged because of power inequalities between women
and men that are built into the social structure

• Women in subordinate position till men contribute more in society in economy .

• Patriarchy in India

• Men are paid more wages ,more prestige ,more authority in capitalist economy

• Bonvillian 2006 –interrelationship of patriarchy and capitalist economy

• Women as supporters and not breadwinners so ready to do at less wage or any kind of job even
if no challenge.
 • Men duty bound as they have to take care of family

• Early feminist –gender as individual attribute ,contemporary feminist (Ridgeway & Smith –Lovin
1999)-gender comes from social practice created in patterns of social interaction

• Gender equality through women at positions of power & political system.

• References:Anna Leon-guerrero Social Problems –Community ,Policy And Social Action –Sage
Publications ,Fourth Edition

• Feminist theory emerged out of the women’s movement and aims to understand the position of
women in society for the sole purpose of improving their position in society..

• four major frameworks

• Liberal feminists emphasizes individual rights and equal opportunity as the basis for social
justice and reform.

• Socialist feminists argue that the origin of women’s oppression lies with the system of
capitalism. Because women are a cheap supply of labor, they are exploited by capitalism, which
makes them less powerful both as women and as workers.

• Third, radical feminists see patriarchy as the main cause of women’s oppression and argue that
women’s oppression lies in men’s control over women’s bodies.

• multiracial feminists examine the interactive influence of gender, race, and class, showing how
together they shape the experiences of all women and men.

The Biosocial Theory Of Gender Role Development

• gender cannot be explained by biology alone.

• gender as determined by both biological and social factors working in conjunction with each
other.

• differential treatment of babies depending on their sex is what determines a child’s gender
identity and from this emerges its gender role identity and sexual orientation.

Gangestad et al. (2006) note that there are two facts to consider in relation to gender:

• there are significant universals in gender behaviour

• there are significant cultural variations in gender differences

• when a baby is labelled as male or female, they are perceived differently.

• Sex rearing is more important than biology

 Unit 2. Social Construction of Gender Identity

a) Influence of family, caste, religion, culture, region, the media and popular culture (films,
advertisements, songs) on gender identity.

b) Gender bias: health and nutrition, education,

employment and stereotyping.

A) Influence of family, caste, religion, culture, region, the media and popular culture (films,
advertisements, songs) on gender identity.

• Impact of social agencies –family-(Dowry, sex-selection, domestic violence and gender based
violence takes place in families)

• Witt S D(1997) Parental Influence on Children's Socialization to Gender Roles Adolescence,

Summer, 1997

• Feminist film criticism examining how mainstream Hindi Cinema has restricted itself to defined
sketches of womanhood

• Cartroon films –WaltDisney

Tere N S(2012) Gender Reflections In Mainstream Hindi Cinema Students’ Research Global Media
Journal – Indian Edition/ISSN 2249-5835 June 2012 Vol. 3/No.1

• http://www.caluniv.ac.in/global-mdia-journal/Students'%20Research/SR4%20NIDHI.pdf

• Yerby A.,Baron S.& Lee Y. Gender roles in Disney Animation, American Education

http://www.american.edu/soc/film/upload/gender-roles-in-disney.pdf

• Compare Tarzan( adopted by a tribe of the strongest mammals ,having ripped musculature,
killed a leopard with only a pointy stick)Cinderella /snow (white –domestic, weak waiting for
prince to rescue)

How Hindi cinema in the seventies had women in different working roles?

• Jaya Bachchan as a knife sharpener in 'Zanjeer' and a singer in 'Abhimaan', Hema Malini as a
village tonga (horse carriage) driver in 'Sholay' and the general manager of a company in
'Trishul', Rakhee as corporate secretary in 'Trishul' and a doctor in 'Kala Pathar', Vidya Sinha who
works in a private firm in „Chhoti Si Baat‟).

• Women rather than being depicted as normal human beings are elevated to a higher position of
being ideal who can commit no wrong.
 • Films like „Dahej‟ (1950), „Gauri‟ (1968), „Devi‟ (1970), „Biwi ho to Aisi‟ (1988), „Pati
Parmeshwar‟ (1988) depicted women as passive, submissive wives sacrificing own but not
leaving husband inspite of torcher by husband

Impact of caste on gender identity

• SC/ST girls’ schooling, gendered labour and socialisation

Impact of religion on gender identity

• School of religious denomination and limitations to girls’ education

• Muslim girls’ education: financial constraints and communal factors

Impact of culture & region : Roles of women based on the culture they belong to –Indian & western
cultures

B) Gender Bias: Health and Nutrition, Education, Employment and Stereotyping.

• Gender Bias in Health, Education and Employment

• Meaning Influence & strategies to deal with Stereotyping

Gender Bias in Health, Education and Employment

Health

• HIV prevalence in LGBT, attitudes of family to LGBT issues , and discrimination in health sphere
faced by LGBT.

• Sex determination & its impact

• men‘s involvement in maternal care

• high-risk sexual behavior-forced rape by parents og lesbians

• Spouse violence -Acts of physical ,emotional ,sexual violence

• Education

• Subject selection based on gender

• Career selection on gender

• Educational Attainment more of girls then boys

• Boys specific institution

 • Employment based on age ,wealth

residence, education-statistics related to it

• Different Wages based on gender

• gender based jobs-unemployment in transgender

• Gender imbalance in job market

• Glass ceiling effect

file:///H:/gender/materials/TISS.pdf

A) Role of media in reinforcing gender parity through the popular culture

Role of media

- to ensure no stereotypes, no vulgarity in songs, films

etc, portray respect for men, women and LGBT

- Fair gender portrayal, fair representation of issues related to men, women and LGBT community

- Use of proper language for inclusion of all

B) The role of family, religion, school, society in reinforcing gender parity.

Strategies for parents to promote gender parity

• Enrolling both girls and boys in school.

 Ensuring that domestic responsibilities like looking after siblings, helping at home or looking
after cattle do not come in the way of attending school.

 Providing a proper nutritious diet to both boys and girls so that they are physically and mentally
fit to attend school.

 Providing suitable facilities to commute to school without causing a strain on the child.

 Catering to the health of the child so that frequent illness does not lead to absenteeism.

 Combating social practices like early marriage.

 Providing suitable facilities at home in the form of time and a proper ambience to study. This
will prevent failure, stagnation and drop outs.

 Co-operating and collaborating with the school authorities so that the child completes his/ her
education.
  Motivating the child to study.

c) The role of NGOs and women's action groups in striving towards gender equity

1. Role of NGOs in inclusion of LGBT

2. Role of Women action groups(Mahila Samkhyas)in women empowerment

• (Mahila Samkhya )Women empowerment program

• targeting out-of-school girls, residential camps and early childhood development centers.

• legal literacy and information relating to their rights and entitlements in society

• Critical thinking skills

• Decision making skills

• access to government services, women’s health, violence against women

• women’s role in Gram-sabhas and other local governance structures, livelihoods

• basic literacy.

• http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/Agenda.pdf

• http://mhrd.gov.in/mahila-samakhya-programme

The Efforts of the Government Agencies to Achieve Gender Parity: Reservations & Legal Provisions

The Gender Parity Index (GPI) is a socioeconomic index usually designed to measure the relative access
to education of males and females. This index is released by UNESCO.

Reservations:

• 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution

• Part IX of the Constitution explains the constitution of the Panchayats which are considered the
backbone of the administrative set up in rural India.

• Clause One of Article 243 (D) makes special provisions for reservation of seats for members of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

Clause 2 states that within these seats not less than one third should be for women of Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes.
Similar reservations are made in case of seats in the Municipal bodies. Thus, 33.3% of the seats are
reserved for women at different levels of governance both in rural and urban areas.

Legal provisions (Pick out any five from this )

• The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2006 -prostitution related

• Dowry Prohibition Act (1961)

• Maternity Benefit Act (1961)

• Equal Remuneration Act (1976)

• The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005

• Section 509 of IPC for sexual harassment

• Section 376 of IPC for Rape

e) Sustainable development Goal 5:gender equality with effect from September 25th 2015,

• In Southern Asia, only 74 girls were enrolled in primary school for every 100 boys in 1990. By
2012, the enrolment ratios were the same for girls as for boys.

• In 46 countries, women now hold more than 30 per cent of seats in national parliament in at
least one chamber.

http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

• References

• Pandey S.(1996)Curriculum and Gender Question: The Indian Experience Social Action ,Vol. 46
,Pg 340- 347

• Anna Leon-guerrero Social Problems –Community ,Policy And Social Action –Sage Publications
,Fourth Edition

• Walikhanna C. Report Of Expert Committee On Gender And Education

• Kishor S.& Gupta K.(2005) Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in India National
Family Health Survey (NFHS-3)India

• Ruchira Sen Education for Women’s Empowerment: An Evaluation of the Government run
Schemes to educate the girl child CCS Working Paper no. 183

• Blumberg R.L (2007) Gender bias in textbooks:a hidden obstacle on the road to gender equality
in education
• Harcourt W(2000)Gender Equality And Equity A summary review of UNESCO's
accomplishments the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing 1995) Unit for the
Promotion of the Status of Women and Gender Equality

• More references :

• Witt S D(1997) Parental Influence on Children's Socialization to Gender Roles Adolescence,

Summer, 1997

• Tere N S(2012) Gender Reflections In Mainstream Hindi Cinema Students’ Research Global
Media Journal – Indian Edition/ISSN 2249-5835 June 2012 Vol. 3/No.1

• Yerby A.,Baron S.& Lee Y. Gender roles in Disney Animation, American Education

• Webliography

• http://www.academia.edu/2764201/Teacher_Training_Modules_that_address_gender_issues_
and_promote_Gender_Equality

• file:///H:/gender/materials/saroj_pandey_article.pdf

• http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

• http://www.ncert.nic.in/departments/nie/dws/modules/vol1.pdf

• http://www.unicef.org/gender/files/BasicEducation_Layout_Web.pdf

• file:///H:/gender/materials/1._Baseline_Definitions_of_key_gender-related_concepts.pdf

• http://www.caluniv.ac.in/global-mdia-journal/Students'%20Research/SR4%20NIDHI.pdf

• http://www.american.edu/soc/film/upload/gender-roles-in-disney.pdf
Gender and Curriculum Transaction

Extent of the course

a. Gender issues in schools

i. Curriculum and textbooks

ii. Sexual abuse and cyber Bullying

b. Gender and Hidden Curriculum

c. Gender Empowerment : The role of curriculum Textbooks and

Teacher

d. Contemporary Women Role Models In India :Urban and Rural

Indicators of Empowerment

At the level of the individual woman and her household:

• participation in crucial decision-making processes;

• extent of sharing of domestic work by men;

• extent to which a woman takes control of her reproductive functions

and decides on family size;

• extent to which a woman is able to decide where the income she has

earned will be channelled to;

• feeling and expression of pride and value in her work;

• self-confidence and self-esteem;

• and ability to prevent violence.

Defining Curriculum

• Curriculum refers to the means and materials with which students will interact for the purpose
of achieving identified educational outcomes.

• The total learning experience provided by a school. It includes the content of courses (the
syllabus), the methods employed (strategies), and other aspects, like norms and values, which
relate to the way the school is organized.
• Braslavsky states that curriculum is an agreement among communities, educational
professionals, and the State on what learners should take on during specific periods of their lives

• The teacher should:

• - ensure that all students, independently of social background and regardless of gender, ethnic
belonging, religion or other belief, sexual orientation or disability, have true influence over the
work methods, work structures, and educational content, and ensure that this influence
increases as they grow in age and maturity,

• - work so that boys and girls have equally great influence and participation over their education

• In a curriculum…….

• Considering where, how and why women’s and girls’ experiences, achievements and
contributions to society have been excluded from both the ‘knowledge’ that is valued in society,
and from the curriculum.

• Writing into the curriculum women’s and girls’ experiences, achievements and contributions.

• Using non-sexist language.

• Developing and using contexts which are relevant and meaningful for girls as well as boys.

• Including and valuing the full range of knowledge and skills within a learning area. This may
necessitate, for instance, the incorporation of new insights and understandings arising from the
findings of women’s studies and feminist research.

• Including knowledge and skills that will assist all students to access a full range of post-school
options.

• Including as an important part of the curriculum such things as the development and nature of
sexuality, the area of relationships, family and household management.

• Incorporating within traditional disciplines new insights and understandings of such issues as the
construction of gender, sexual harassment and violence. Teaching about issues which broaden
girls’ and boys understanding of the past and present social expectations of women and men.

• Providing girls and boys with the skills to enable them to understand and unravel the ways in
which social and political structures, including the curriculum, act to maintain and support the
dominant position of men in society.

• Developing curriculum practice which supports and encourages girls and boys in not accepting
discriminatory situations and which enables them to develop strategies to counteract sexist
behaviour.
• Providing curriculum which supports the development of individual and social identity based on
broad, rather than narrow, views of what it means to be female or male.

• http://www.publications.awe.asn.au/gender-and-the-national-curriculum

Why are textbooks important?

• TEXTBOOKS AS TOOLS FOR EDUCATION

• TEXTBOOKS AS TOOLS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

• EDUCATION AND GENDER EQUALITY

• Justice Verma Committee also recommended that gender equality be integrated in the
curriculum.

• The Implications of Textbooks for Gender Equality……..

• While textbooks may be the object of debate and controversy, everybody accepts their key role
in society. Not only do they contribute to learning through dissemination of knowledge, but they
also play a role in children’s upbringing by directly or indirectly transmitting models of social
behaviour, norms and values. Textbooks are therefore a tool for both education and social
change. To monitor their content, ensure that they are distributed and guarantee their use in
society, a clear policy is necessary.

• English textbooks play into gender stereotyping at places. Analysts pointed out subtle gender
stereotypes like a boy holding a book while a girl is engaged in conversation. Occupational
representation also indicates gender stereotypes.

• The report notes “women are shown as teachers, cooks, doctors and nurses reflecting an
extension of household work”. Men are “depicted in multiple professions, as pilots, artists,
astronauts, magicians, rulers, postman, vegetable seller, newspaper seller, cobbler, librarian,
drivers, dramatists, musicians, athletes, scholars, wrestlers, grocers, police, sportspersons and
woodcutters”.

What should be done?

• More gender related issues should be taken into consideration

• More gender role models to be represented

• More gender related references be given consciously in the text

• The sex and the gender differences be related in the texts

• Inclusion of authors on gender basis

• Task assignment at the end of the Text be gender sensitive

 • Language used in the text be gender sensitive

• Choosing of inclusion of facts and figures being gender sensitive

http://www.ncert.nic.in/departments/nie/dws/modules/RMSA_Module.pdf How to evaluate a

Text Book on Gender Sensitivity?

What is sexual abuse ?

• Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is forcing undesired sexual abuse by one person
upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual
assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or (often pejoratively) molester. The term
also covers any behavior by any adult or older adolescent towards a child to stimulate any of the
involved sexually. The use of a child or other individuals younger than theage of consent for
sexual stimulation is referred to as child sexual abuse or statutory rape.

• Effects of Child Sexual Abuse……

• Effects of child sexual abuse include shame and self-blame, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic
stress disorder, self-esteem issues, sexual dysfunction, chronic pelvic pain, addiction, self-injury,
suicidal ideation, borderline personality disorder, and propensity to re-victimization in
adulthood.

• Child sexual abuse is a risk factor for attempting suicide.

• Much of the harm caused to victims becomes apparent years after the abuse happens.

Cyber Bullying

• Cyberbullying is the use of cell phones, instant messaging, e-mail, chat rooms or social
networking sites such as Face book and Twitter to harass, threaten or intimidate someone.

• Cyberbullying is often done by children, who have increasingly early access to these
technologies. The problem is compounded by the fact that a bully can hide behind a
pseudonymous user name, disguising his or her true identity. This secrecy makes it difficult to
trace the source and encourages bullies to behave more aggressively than they might in a
situation where they were identified.

• Cyberbullying can include such acts as making threats, sending provocative insults or racial or
ethnic slurs, gay bashing, attempting to infect the victim's computer with a virus and flooding an
e-mail inbox with messages. If you are a victim, you can deal with cyberbullying to some extent
by limiting computer connection time, not responding to threatening or defamatory messages,
and never opening e-mail messages from sources you do not recognize or from known sources
of unwanted communications. More active measures include blacklisting or whitelisting e-mail
accounts, changing e-mail addresses, changing ISPs, changing cell phone accounts and
attempting to trace the source.
• Because the use of mobile and online communications has grown so rapidly and the crime is
relatively new, many jurisdictions are deliberating over cyberbullying laws. However, the crime
is covered by existing laws against personal threats and harassment. In some cases, it may be
advisable to inform the local police department or consult a lawyer.

What should a curriculum do ?

• Inform about these issues

• Make them mentally ready in case they have to face these situation

• Provide guidance and counselling in case the child has faced such situation

• Include such training in the curriculum

• Physically train them how to avoid such untoward incident

• Keeps monitoring the sudden change of behaviour among children

• Provides opportunities for genders to have self confidence and raised self esteem

What is Hidden Curriculum?

• Hidden curriculum: things which students learn, ‘because of the way in which the work of the
school is planned and organized but which are not in themselves overtly included in the
planning or even in the consciousness of those responsible for the school arrangements (Kelly,
2009).

• Hidden curriculum, if its potential is realized, could benefit students and learners in all
educational systems. Also, it does not just include the physical environment of the school, but
the relationships formed or not formed between students and other students or even students
and teachers (Jackson, 1986).

• The hidden curriculum refers to the unspoken and unofficial norms, behaviors, and values that
kids learn at school in addition to the official curriculum of math, reading, science, and so on.
These can include expectations about how to act in public (standing in line), how to interact with
non-parental authority figures, patriotism (saying the National Anthem each morning), and
messages about social hierarchies (who has to be respected in what manner , what it means to
get different grades), and so on.

• Gender is an important element of the hidden curriculum. Schools reinforce larger cultural
messages about gender, including the idea that gender is an essential characteristic for
organizing social life.

Gender and Hidden curriculum…….

• Make all teaching learning activities gender sensitive

• Choose programmes that would benefit the issue of Gender sensitivity issues

• Provide opportunities that would break the stereo types in the society

• Ensure that all the activities that are planned whether curricular or co-curricular do not neglect
the Gender Issues

• Use gender sensitive languages in discussions and debates

• The responsibilities to be shared on the Gender Basis in school

• Appreciate and encourage talent irrespective of Gender ideologies

• Gender sensitive schools can function on four discrete entry points ……

• Personal

• Structural

• Interpersonal

• Instructional

Gender Empowerment ……..

• The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) is a measure of inequalities between men’s and
women’s opportunities in a country. It combines inequalities in three areas: political
participation and decision making, economic participation and decision making, and power
over economic resources. It is one of the five indicators used by the United Nations
Development Programme in its annual Human development Report.

• Gender Empowerment indicators include the following:

 Economic participation: male and female unemployment levels, levels of economic activity, and
remuneration for equal work.

 Economic opportunity: duration of maternity leave, number of women in managerial positions,

availability of government-provided childcare, wage inequalities between men and women.

 Political empowerment: number of female ministers, share of seats in parliament, women

holding senior legislative and managerial positions, number of years a female has been head of
state.

 Educational attainment: literacy rates, enrolment rates for primary, secondary and tertiary
education, 6 average years of schooling.
  Health and wellbeing: effectiveness of governments‟ efforts to reduce poverty and inequality,
adolescent fertility rate, percentage of births attended by skilled health staff, and maternal and
infant mortality rates.

(Lopez-Claros and Zahidi 2005)

Role of a teacher ………..

• “Teachers and educators influence the gender roles of their students thus impacting their
educational outcomes. When considering Education for All (EFA) goal 5, which aimed to
eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 and now aims to
achieve gender equality by 2015, it should be realized that teachers are a critical force for
meeting the goal”

Guidelines for Inclusion: Ensuring access to education for all 2005

UNESCO retrieved on October 15, 2009

What can be done ?

 Explain different concepts with clarity and give examples from the children’s lived realities

 Use teaching aids as readily as possible to clarify an issues

 Use thoughts of eminent thinkers on gender sensitivity

 Make your teaching dialogical

 Use project methods

 Encourage team work

 Use quiz, debates and other techniques for better participation and understanding

 Give opportunities to children for voicing their opinions

 Discuss their doubts and difficulties

 Address social issues through theatre, folk songs and drama.

• Contemporary Women Role Model in India

• Name :

• Field :

• Nature of work :

• Achievements :
 • Obstacles :

• Recognition:

• Some Contemporary Women achievers ……..

Urban

• Tessy Thomas. DRDO

• Chitra Ramakrishnan. MD. NSE

• Arundhati Bhatacharya, RBI Governor

• Arundhati Rao, Spokesperson

• Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker Ls

Rural

• Chavi Rajawat, MBA , WOMEN SARPANCH

• Nauroti. The Sarpanch Of Hardama, Rajasthan

• Dalma Patgiri , Assam

• Annie George, Founder BEDROC

• Saalmundrada Thimmakka, Karnataka

Point to ponder ………

Gender concerns in education need to be addressed seriously in the context of globalization,

liberalization and explosion in the field of information technology. These changes have impacted the
lives and conditions of people from all sections of society. In the context of gender, women and girls
continue to occupy a secondary status in society, despite their participation in different 23 capacities in
all sectors of the economy. Further, they face the brunt of physical and emotional violence and their
bodies get commodified in print and audio-visual media. Also, demographic indicators, like the
phenomena of declining sex ratio, gender disparities at secondary and senior secondary stages of
education, has made gender an important area of concern for policy makers, educationists, planners
and all members of the civil society.