Gender inequality: Male underachievement
Critical Reading and Writing in Social Sciences: FOUN1013
Documented Essay
Worldwide, women are achieving higher representation and success. At the post-secondary level women are earning most of the degrees awarded. Where did our males disappear to? Gender inequality is an extensive, complex and often vague concept. Simply it is defined as the ranking of a particular gender, whether male or female, over the other and how they are treated based on their gender. Gender inequality and the result of male underperformance in schools have become major issues in the Caribbean, and affect the individuals involved and the society on a whole. Boys’ underachievement therefore should not be ignored and an analysis of this subject is necessary for a start to a solution. Male underachievement exists in Caribbean countries such as Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago among others. Three main causes of male underperformance in Caribbean schools are improper gender socialisation, unequal opportunity for educational attainment and changing societies and lifestyles. The way in which males are socialized by family and secondarily, members of society, greatly influences their personality and behaviour including their outlook on the need for educational attainment. This results in the general perception of male underachievement in school. Plummer (2010) identifies gender division in attendance of school and household chores by the family as the source of the issue. However, Figueroa (2004) focuses on how historical privileges of male marginalization results in male underachievement. In the case of the Caribbean society, it is evident that socialization has a lot more to do with the characteristics of male personality than privileges males might have had in the past. Figueroa (2004) suggests that gender socialisation leaves boys deficient in skills needed to survive the educational system. Such skills include time
Documented Essay
Worldwide, women are achieving higher representation and success. At the post-secondary level women are earning most of the degrees awarded. Where did our males disappear to? Gender inequality is an extensive, complex and often vague concept. Simply it is defined as the ranking of a particular gender, whether male or female, over the other and how they are treated based on their gender. Gender inequality and the result of male underperformance in schools have become major issues in the Caribbean, and affect the individuals involved and the society on a whole. Boys’ underachievement therefore should not be ignored and an analysis of this subject is necessary for a start to a solution. Male underachievement exists in Caribbean countries such as Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago among others. Three main causes of male underperformance in Caribbean schools are improper gender socialisation, unequal opportunity for educational attainment and changing societies and lifestyles. The way in which males are socialized by family and secondarily, members of society, greatly influences their personality and behaviour including their outlook on the need for educational attainment. This results in the general perception of male underachievement in school. Plummer (2010) identifies gender division in attendance of school and household chores by the family as the source of the issue. However, Figueroa (2004) focuses on how historical privileges of male marginalization results in male underachievement. In the case of the Caribbean society, it is evident that socialization has a lot more to do with the characteristics of male personality than privileges males might have had in the past. Figueroa (2004) suggests that gender socialisation leaves boys deficient in skills needed to survive the educational system. Such skills include time
References: Chevannes, B. (1999). What You Sow Is What You Reap: Violence and the Construction of Male Identity in Jamaica. Current Issues In Comparative Education, 2(1), 51-61. Figueroa, Mark. 2004. Male Privileging and Male Academic Underperformance in Jamaica. In Interrogating Caribbean Masculinity, ed. Rhoda Reddock. UWI Press, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago: 137-66. Miller, E. (1998). Feminization of elementary school teaching in the Commonwealth Caribbean. Institute of Education Annual, 1, 3-42. Plummer, D. 2010. Chapter 10: Is learning becoming taboo for Caribbean boys? In: Morrissey, M, et al eds. 2010. Challenging HIV & AIDS: a new role for Caribbean education. Ian Randall Publishing, Kingston. The Office for Standards in Education, Children 's Services and Skills. (2000). Educational Inequality – Mapping Race, Class and Gender, A synthesis of research evidence. London, DC: Gillborn, D., & Mirza, H. S.