Role of Gender in Education –Its Problem and Prospects with Special Reference in the Context of India

Abstract

The dualism between man and woman is the fundamental fact of our existence and the attitudes towards these issues are diverse in different cultures. The differentiation of humankind in males and females is conditioned not only by biology and genetics but also by those socially learned roles, functions, norms, behavioural pattern and expectation that are associated with maleness and femaleness in the concrete society.

The main aim of this paper is to examine the role of gender in education or educational system. The issue of gender equality is particularly underlined in the Universal Declaration of Hunan Rights, stating that everyone has the right to education without any discrimination on the grounds of social origin or sex. But despite this optimistic fact, certain stereotypes with gender content and expectation do exist in the educational system that still influence the students' academic performance.

There are mainly two reasons explaining the existing differences in the educational system --- one is biology and the other is upbringing. The biological argument is based on the assumption that the genetic heritage from the human ancestors determine the differentiated specialization of brains of men and women. Secondly, gender difference in behavior and personality are due to innate personality of the persons which are  due to cultural or social factors and are therefore, the product of socialization.

Gender difference in education are a type of gender discrimination in educational system  affecting both men and women before and after their educational experiences. This discrimination is applied to women in several ways such as hidden curriculum in schools, teacher's in equal behaviour, guardians interested in their son child's education only, pure female literary rate  and so on.

In this paper, attempt will also be made  to focus on the consequences of such gender discrimination in education like women's becoming of more passive, dependent, less assertive, less confident, lacking in decision making capability and the like. Finally, we shall try to put emphasis on some measures that may solve the problem to a large extent, if not completely and bring about gender equality in educational field.