heart of heartlands lessons

The year 2018 is set to be a monumental one for women.

In a world post-Weinstein, ending sexual harassment is loudly and proudly on the agenda. Around 70% of British women aged 16-59 have experienced some form of sexual harassment, and approximately 1 in 5 have been sexually assaulted. Women are no longer prepared to experience the systemic sexual abuse, unwanted touching and name-calling that has been so integral to the British female experience.

The year 2018 is also exposing the depth and breadth of perpetuating pay inequality between the genders. Women continue to be paid 18.4% less than their male peers; a figure revealing both, that firms are still paying some men more for completing similar work to women and women are still not going for or attaining the best paid jobs.

Both these figures are stark for schools and educators. A school is a microcosm of society and the parallels are clear.

More than one in three girls in mixed secondary schools have reported being sexually harassed while at school and 24% have been subjected to unwanted physical touching of a sexual nature. The use of sexist, misogynist language is also widespread with 66% of female sixth-form students complaining they have either experienced or witnessed the use of sexist language in schools.

Further to this, the gender pay gap within schools has also been laid bare this year. Despite teaching remaining a largely female profession, teaching unions have voiced their concerns over government data, which has shown male teachers are £900 per annum better off, and men in leadership roles can be paid £4,000 more than women doing similar work.

So, within this social and economic context, the need to teach feminism in schools is self-evident: it’s essential for creating equal opportunities and for safeguarding the students that we teach.

But, we must also think about our role in developing the whole child. Teaching feminism is also crucial in helping both our male and female students develop positive gender identities, improve their self-esteem and understanding of the acceptable boundaries of interpersonal behaviour. Dr Jessica Ringrose of the IOE, has argued that schools should teach about strong female role models and gender inequality, to redress how many girls define themselves according to male desire. And, in a media saturated society, we must empower our students to be relentlessly critical of how the media presents images of the female body and the female role within sexual relationships.

We must also remember that gender inequality is damaging to both boys and girls. Commentators argue that contemporary boys and men are gripped by an identity crisis in terms of their masculinity. Conditioned by the same patriarchy as girls, our male students are unsure of their place in a world where the genders are to be equal. This existential crisis in some males has been exacerbated by de-industrialisation, the loss of many traditionally masculine jobs and the ‘feminisation of the workplace’. Our boys now fare worse at every stage of education and suicide remains the biggest killer of males under 45.

We must build the resilience our male students need to navigate their way in a world where masculinity is not uniform and does not have to be dominant or hyper-sexualised. Feminism can teach men that female empowerment is not a personal threat to or criticism of them, and that it is healthy and acceptable to show emotion.

Engaging male students without their feeling attacked is one of the biggest challenges we face as teachers of feminism. “What about International Men’s Day?” is a question male students frequently ask and most often, this is from a place of genuine ignorance about the innate privilege they possess. Alienating young males is counter-intuitive to the cause, and we will present some strategies to avoid this in the second part of this blog.

Another challenge is being clear about the message we are teaching. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg argues that women need to adopt traditional male traits to get ahead in the workplace. Is this what we are advocating for our students, for girls to act like boys? Are we suggesting that gender is wholly constructed, or is there at least some basis in gender being based on biological differences? If the latter is true, are we asking that male and female traits be regarded on an equal footing? Or, if the former is true, are we encouraging desirable personality traits to be considered universal and equally respected?

A major challenge with this conundrum is that there is no consensus among teachers; we all have our own ideas about gender and its construction to the classroom. An inconsistent approach may serve to confuse the students we intend to educate. However, gender identity is incredibly personal, and it is unlikely that a whole-school approach would be meaningful, appropriate or easily applied.

This is clearly a bigger question that schools alone can answer and indeed, there may never be consensus on these big questions.

Nevertheless, this is not to say that we cannot teach about feminism, gender and inequality both implicitly and explicitly through the school curriculum, practiced daily and embedded within your schemes of learning.

How can we deliver feminism in schools?

1. Engage the staff body - explain why placing feminism within the curriculum is important and develop whole-school strategies to raise the profile of feminism, gender and inequality.
2. Appreciate the power of subverting traditional gender roles - consciously ensure women are celebrated in all fields, but particularly those traditionally dominated by men (e.g. STEM). Make a point of using female role models in displays, as visiting speakers, through assemblies, during international women’s day, and via conversations around current affairs.
3. Design your curriculum to include the work and perspectives of women - e.g. women’s history, literature, art, music, business etc. In areas that are not explicitly related to women, can you include a lesson that considers the female experience?
4. Be explicit in discussing and sanctioning sexist behaviour, actively calling it out and using the term ‘sexism’ to address it - ensure there is a sexism sanction on SIMS and enforce it appropriately.
5. Avoid using gendered language and giving out gendered responsibilities - this is hard; it takes a conscious effort to un-programme the gender bias conditioned into all of us. Acknowledge when your language and actions reinforce traditional gender norms and try to address it. Ensure you are paying equal attention to male and female uniform, considering how fixations on skirt length can affect girls’ perception of themselves.
6. Be conscious of paying equal attention to boys and girls in the classroom - research shows teachers both give boys more attention than girls in the classroom, and their interactions with boys are more public. This encourages girls to reserve their comments and questions for private conversations, making them more reluctant to participate in class discussion and feedback sessions.
7. Ask school leaders for a whole-school policy on sexual harassment - engage Student Voice in this process and get students to buy into a Student Charter against sexual harassment.
8. Teach about sex, relationships, pornography, safe use of social media, gender inequality and feminism explicitly through PSHE & Citizenship.
9. Give male students safe places to express their emotions - and actively encourage a culture where mental health is discussed as routinely as physical health. Encourage staff to support a culture where toxic masculinity is not the norm. Draw on the strength of the male staff body to model emotional intelligence.
10. Elevate boys the role of advocates and allies in the role of supporting their female peers - boys need to be part of the solution and importantly, see themselves that way. Include them in events and conversations regarding gender inequality, e.g. make your assembly on International Women’s Day delivered by some male students. Explain that sexism belongs in the same box as other forms of oppression. Challenge any denial that gender inequality persists using a non-confrontational, evidence-based approach.
11. Encourage students to set up a Feminist Society - or make feminism and gender issues a core focus of an Inequalities Society. Encourage students to take ownership of women’s issues.