Gender and the Curriculum

For my paper, I decided to choose the topic of Gender and Curriculum. My interest sparked knowing that gender inequity is still prevalent in our society, so I wanted to understand how it was prevalent in the curriculum, knowing full well that I am also the one teaching it. I wanted to understand how I could make the gender issues, essentially disappear when I am teaching the curriculum. Personally, I have seen this issue as a student in a classroom. Often times, what I was wearing was more important than me being in school, learning. I was asked a couple times to change my shirt even though it was sweltering hot, and I was a kid with a sweating issue and was embarrassed about it. The novel Integrating Gender and Sexual Diversity Across the Curriculum explains that “[i]ssues of gender and sexual diversity affect everyone and do not only impact students after they have reached puberty” (2010). The author Elizabeth Meyer makes very prominent points in which I agreed with. 

In this chapter, there are many sub chapters within it. I chose to focus on one specific sub chapter, “Elementary Topics and Themes”. I felt that this is necessary, because I wanted to teach elementary education. It discusses gender roles in which the teacher unknowingly provokes on the children through the curriculum and other gender roles that are prevalent throughout their education career, just being a student in that school society. For example, what girls are wearing and how boys are behaving, “boys will be boys”. It is also discusses parents and family relationships which shows us the students come in with gender norms from their family in which we need to break them apart from. They struggle to understand other students who have gay or bi sexual parents and in many cases, teachers get back lash discussing these topics in their classroom. 

I am hoping to move forward and have an understanding of gender inequities within the classroom and curriculum and how I can limit or erase it in my own classroom. I’m hoping to find two other articles sharing their knowledge of Gender and the curriculum, in which I will compare or contrast the articles. Elizabeth Meyer raises very strong points in her book/article and I’m hoping the other two articles (even though I’m choosing them) raise equally as strong points. I’m excited to learn and research this topic of discussion as I feel it is one that I have personally been influenced by, being a female in the school system.