Why It’s Important to Minimize Gender and Other Biases in Classrooms

Gender individuality is one’s subjective experience of one’s own gender. Gender identity can link with assigned gender at birth or can vary from it altogether. When children are about 2 years of age, they become aware of the physical distinctions between boys and girls. Before their third birthday, most children are easily able to recognize themselves as either a boy or a girl. By the age of 4, most children have a sturdy sense of their gender individuality. During this exact time, children understand gender role behaviour—that is, doing “things that boys do” or “things that girls do.” In order for us to create a classroom space that is available to everyone, it is vital that we avoid gender stereotyping and differentiation.

1. Give space to an honest school environment with books, toys, sports equipment and musical instruments that cater to everybody.

Letting children select and decide what they would like to be is paramount for development, conviction and self-esteem. Dollhouses, animals, building bricks and musical instruments are the illustrations of items that widen the learning area for children. Try to dodge putting girls or boys into boxes in regard to what they can play with.

2. Using inclusive language is extremely important.

Those days are gone when we can split the population into just girls or boys, male or female. As we are all conscious, gender is a colonial construct, so the classroom can evolve into an area in which these social norms are left at the portico and children can become anything they want to be. Words such as “You guys” can be a favoured way of addressing a group, yet it’s an example of how we promote the idea of gender bias.

3. Be aware of current gender bias.

In general, girls are admired for the neatness of their work or their formation, while boys are more likely to receive attributes based on struggle and capability. The absence of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) or career and technical education subjects can be demanded in some cases by these practices of universal behaviour. But we can change this by creating the school a bias-free zone!

In the end, what matters is how you deal with kids as the base of a disciplined society starts with a foundation that is unbiased and real to the world. The culture of gender discrimination must be stopped from the beginning.