Sexism in the Classroom

      When I first wanted to write about this, I hesitated, because of the inescapable judgment and gaze that would follow me for addressing such a topic, as this would easily pass off as immoral or as sexually desperate if one only gave it a glance. The lack of understanding and the lack of knowledge thereof has led to heavy misunderstandings on the addressing of social issues such as gender segregation, gender bias or gender roles.

The most common misunderstanding would be that when one refers to gender issues, people usually mistake it as a synonym for women’s issues or sometimes include even issues of those pertaining to the transgenders and the non binary genders, sometimes maybe even to men whose sexual identity is homosexual.

But somehow, the male community who identify as heterosexuals are excluded and so addressing sexism seems like a war where the two genders are always throwing examples of their own gender group being discriminated. Sometimes, it will result in a scenario where one gender accuses the other for perpetuating dominance and demand sympathy for the victimized gender.

      But this is not all that sexism has to offer. Sexism in the classroom starts specifically at the segregation of genders where the male and female students are expected to sit in separate rows and no male or female would perform the promiscuous act of crossing the invisible barrier to approach someone of the opposite gender.

Such is the invisible barrier, almost like the Lakshman Rekha of the 21^st century. But it doesn’t end there. There is an extremely peculiar way of how isssues are addressed during class hours that further show gender bias among the minds of the faculty. For example, when issues like drinking or smoking are addressed, the assumption that only men have such habits and so the men would have greater knowledge about these is an extremely common but inaccurate approach of the addiction (I’m not saying that everyone who drinks and smokes is addicted to it, but you get the point). And so there is this practise where the faculties tend to turn towards the direction of the male students while addressing the issue. 

      A second issue which affects the boys would be on the P.E. class that is practiced in schools. I studied in two co-educational schools for 5 years (grade 8^th to 10^th in one, and grade 11^th and 12^th in the other) and a major drawback I saw in both these schools was that it was more easy for a girl to be permitted to sit during the class, than for a boy. A boy was meant to be athletic, like it somehow came to him when he was born as an inherited trait while it was okay for a girl to have a dislike in sports or any sort of physical training.

You see, sexism affects all genders. The stereotyping of certain genders with certain traits and habits is the root for all types of sexism.

      Coming back to the classroom scenario, both the co-ed schools I studied in had girls and boys sit together, or just sit randomly with no division. Whether it was because the Central Board of Education that demanded this or the fact that living in a metropolitan and cosmopolitan city made one less gender conscious, I do not know. But I can certainly testify that the absence of the gender gap makes one feel more comfortable and have a sense of belongingness in the classroom. I know, ideally, it is supposed to be the other way round, where you feel comfortable when you sit only among your gender group, but trust me, there is always a wave of discomfort that hits me when I enter the classroom with the lakshman rekha, like it will never be my second home, like my opinions will always be restrained and muffled.

One also does not realize that the absence of the gender gap debunks a lot of misconceptions that one had about the opposite gender. 
The growth and learning that one goes through when exposed to the opposite gender is valuable and is a lifetime experience and also helps one to understand where to set boundaries and limits with the opposite gender (and where it is okay not to).

      Now, eliminating the gender gap in a classroom certainly does not eliminate all gender issues but a small percentage of the gender issues can be dealt with on its own when the gender gap is removed which will then lead to a greater number of issues being addressed and eliminated, like the butterfly effect.

The gender gap is a small issue but its removal in the classroom can have an extremely healthy affect in the minds of especially growing individuals in perceiving the world as a place for both men and women to exist as people.

It brings in a healthy mindset that all genders matter and all genders are victimized in some way or the other by sexism.  It makes one realize that sexism wins when it’s a war between men and women and the rest of the genders and sexism ends when men, women, transgenders and non binary people unite.

There, that’s my rant on ‘Sexism in the Classroom’. Phew!

Image Credits: 
1.https://youtu.be/EpCUmJM89fk

2.https://www.instagram.com/p/B123xLBlHt7/?igshid=17zx1fi8au9lx