Social Justice in Education and Gender Equality in Schools

Introduction

English, according to Hall (2016) is no longer considered as a luxury rather, it is considered as part of basic universal education that people have clamored to have. Gender equity and social justice in schools and in the classroom in particular starts with the teacher education programs that train teachers; therefore, the teachers need to be trained on how to be effective with all categories of learners as they come from diverse cultures, races and societies. They equally need to be trained on dealing with diversity and white privilege theory for them to be able to address the issue of equity and social justice in education. To achieve this, the teachers should identify what they know about gender roles that are common in the country from which the intending literature to be used is coming from. They should know their biases, know-how such conflicts with their own culture, and how comfortable they will be discussing the issue in the classroom. They should equally be able to teach gender roles selflessly without been tempered with by their personal thought. That will aid bridging the gap/barriers between the privileged and the marginalised. The marginalised have to cross several hurdles to have access to resources and power. Meanwhile, those in power always receive more privilege and create more barriers for the marginalised groups (Coney, 2016; Daniel & Koss, 2016 and Faust, 2016).

Gender Beliefs and Social Justice in Education

Social justice has several different ways by which it can be applied and interpreted in education. Social justice involves critical analysis social and environmental realities of injustices that temper with effective teaching, learning, and curriculum. There is always segregation against women in spaces including such as public transport, academic institutions, even lines in buffets or seating areas in public functions or concert (Faust, 2016; Halli, 2016; Kapur, 2016), and no questions were raised on such segregations. Parents are always considered to be unfortunate when they have no male child to be their heir. Even in schools, macrocosms of the larger society, there exist an unsaid code of conduct where the girls and the boys seat separately. They do no group tasks which normally should encourage interactions between the sexes and more so, assigning of different kinds of activities for girls and boys during leisure and games periods (Kapur, ibid). Still in many societies as Kapur (ibid) pointed out, that even when women perform as good as their male counter parts, which they do in various fields of human endeavour, the prejudice remains. Therefore, classrooms are macrocosms of the social institutions that spread gender hierarchies. She therefore proposes the positioning of sensitization “as a learning outcome of English language class empower learners to become critical users of language” (Kapur, ibid: 180). This will help promote social justice through shading understanding on how gender is constructed through language use. Meanwhile, equity and social justice is considered as a societal plague (Coney, 2016).

Cultural and Gender Stereotypes in Education

The growing number of studies in gender presents that persistently, gendered workplace norms and policies limit men’s and women’s change to develop egalitarian relationships at home (Pedulla & Théband, 2015). They went further to state that despite the fact that women are much in the labour force of recent, still the number of men out numbered women even in the female-dominated occupations. Gender equity at times is associated with difference in sex, especially from feminist perspective. Whenever the issue of equity comes up, what always comes to mind is the need for equal treatment for women and men. Gender relations and identities are formed through cultures, lifestyle, also values and languages. Concerning education and training, gender differences feature in both attaining and choosing courses of study in schools (Kapur, ibid).

Cultural heritage for individuals is a stereotype, which are learned early in life and often people have the ability to reject or override them. This led to people forming an implicit gender stereotypes that spontaneously have linked men and women with stereotype traits, abilities, and roles, even when they reject these traditional beliefs. The learned gender stereotypes are acquired subsequently and can affect the perceptions of others unwillingly and unconsciously. Rudman and Phelan (2010) in a study focused on old women who are in the process of deciding for their future careers had their patterns of beliefs changed overtime as they become established in masculine domains. Meanwhile, gender scholars have agreed generally, “gender is primarily an identity or role that is taught at childhood and enacted in family relations” (Ridgeway & Correll, 2004: 510).

Conclusion

Social justice makes available opportunities for persons or groups to develop and exploit their potentials to the fullest irrespective of their gender, class, race and origin. The inclusion of social justice in ELT will help in many ways to eliminate gender bias from the curriculum and challenge its existence it in the society (Daniel & Koss, 2016; Kapur, ibid). Social justice is an ambiguous and contested term that is not often clearly defined, especially in relation to education. It focuses mainly on teaching for diversity or culturally responsive pedagogies where important issues are reflected in the country (Boyland & Woolsy, 2014). Social justice demands that learning should be done with respect toward the students, as well as their families and communities (Sleeter, Montecinos, and Jiménez, 2016). Social justice education, according to Ayers et al., (2009) in Sleeter, Montecinos, and Jiménez (2016) relays on three (3) main principles. These are: (1) equity as it relates to principle of fairness (2) Activation, to the principle of agency, and then (3) Social literacy, which is the principle of relevance.

Works Cited

1. Coney, Sandra E. (2016). The Societal Plague of Gender Inequity. Journal of Social Issues, 52(2), 157-179.
2. Daniel, Beatriz M., & Koss, Angelica (2016). Promoting Social Justice through English Language Teaching. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 15(1), 149-167.
3. Faust, D. Lawrence (2016). Socio-Cultural Perspectives on Gender Equity. International Journal of Sociology, 46(3), 54-73.
4. Hall, Robert T. (2016). The Importance of English in Universal Education. Language Education Today, 23(4), 18-31.
5. Kapur, Meena (2016). Language, Gender, and Social Justice in English Language Teaching. Journal of Language and Linguistics, 10(2), 175-191.
6. Ridgeway, Cecilia L., & Correll, Shelley J. (2004). Unpacking the Gender System: A Theoretical Perspective on Gender Beliefs and Social Relations. Gender and Society, 18(4), 510-531.
7. Sleeter, Christine, Montecinos, Carmen, & Jiménez, Robert T. (2016). Social Justice Education: Challenges and Possibilities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 30(5), 47-61.