Perpetuating Gender Inequity: Attitudes of Teacher Education Students

Abstract

The role of schools in perpetuating social inequalities has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. However, less attention has been paid to the impact of teacher education programs in influencing teacher attitudes which can contribute to discriminatory practices. To begin to address this question in relation to gender equity, attitudes of 751 teacher education students to traditional sex-role stereotypes were measured on a 32-item questionnaire. One three-way ANOVA was conducted on the total score (all items summed) and another on each item. The independent variables were age, gender and length of enrolment of the student. A consistent main effect for gender was obtained; women were more egalitarian in their attitudes than men. There was, however, no effect for length of enrolment. This was interpreted to indicate that the current teacher education program in which the students were enrolled had a limited impact on traditional gender-related stereotypes.