tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post1747155146390100301..comments2024-01-29T06:02:39.583-08:00Comments on Suzanne's Bookshelf: Sexism in Higher EducationSuzanne McCarthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07033350578895908993noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-43362699696476922492010-05-14T11:22:03.497-07:002010-05-14T11:22:03.497-07:00Looking at this in terms of percentages: the high...Looking at this in terms of percentages: the highest male-female gap is for the master's degree, with 61% women and 39% men. For the bachelor's degree, the percentages are 59% women, 41% men. For the doctorate, it's 52% women, 48 men.<br /><br />We are hardly talking about, omigosh, twice as many women as men are finishing higher ed! Are we?Kristenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08252374623355509404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-27026790939887755542010-05-13T22:19:44.075-07:002010-05-13T22:19:44.075-07:00I am not sure what to make of these statistics, ex...I am not sure what to make of these statistics, except that economics are certainly responsible for keeping women in school. And boys are doing better in school now than at any time in the past, so we are not doing too badly in that dept. either.<br /><br />Of course, we can always do better and teachers do spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to improve their practice.Suzanne McCarthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07033350578895908993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-7955559343946291142010-05-13T11:47:09.864-07:002010-05-13T11:47:09.864-07:00I find the statistics in both quotes shocking yet ...I find the statistics in both quotes shocking yet both ring true. Deep in the unspoken structures of society there are factors that make it likely that women will earn less than men. <br /><br />On the other hand boys ARE socialised (both by adults and by the way they treat each other) in ways that make it less likely they will succeed at education (at any level). <br /><br />We need to try to live in ways that reduce these differences. The pressures against women in the "job market" are perhaps the more difficult to deal with at all, because they are often unconscious to the perpetrators. But the factors that bend for boys away from study are also deeply rooted. <br /><br />(Kristen, while I agree that "the bottom line" impacts strongly the post-school figures, boys consistently do badly at school too. Unless one believes that men are inherently stupid, a sexist view that would match and reverse one often argued in the past, then that IS another injustice that needs addressing. It is not fair that boys should be discouraged from study and deep thought.)<br /><br />Sorry if I have expressed this badly, the thoughts tumble and won't organise themselves - a problem I am having at work as well, it must be age ;)Tim Bulkeleyhttp://5minutebible.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-89540335885487165612010-05-12T23:10:33.641-07:002010-05-12T23:10:33.641-07:00I'm not at all surprised that more women than ...I'm not at all surprised that more women than men are going to college-- but I don't know if it has much to do with boys not being "socialized" for college.<br /><br />I think it's probably much more down-to-earth than that. For a woman, college is pretty much her only ticket out of low-payig, nowhere jobs. Without college, what is she most likely to end up as? A waitress, a nurse's assistant, a clerical assistant, a part-time day care employee, a retail clerk.<br /><br />Without college, men can still be firefighters, electricians, plumbers, construction workers-- just like you said, Suzanne. Of course, men can also sling burgers or work in retail, but there are still jobs for non-college-educated men that are not low-paying, nowhere jobs. Women are still very much discouraged from trying to go into these more lucrative lines of non-college-educated work. <br /><br />Dispite the fact that men are suffering in this economy largely because of downsizing of these kinds of job, the economic incentive for women to go to college still exceeds that of men. And college is expensive, and getting more expensive. Do they really need to spend all that money to get somewhere in life? For women, the answer is absolutely yes. For men, the answer is still, maybe, maybe not. <br /><br />I don't really think it's about "socialization" at all. I think it's about the bottom line.Kristenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08252374623355509404noreply@blogger.com