Final Blog Post!

What was my topic? So when thinking about what topic to address for this project, I thought of gender discrimination. Not because I'm a feminist or anything really close to one but I was curious of what people's opinions were about it and if it was still "a thing".

What's the history behind gender discrimination? For those who are unaware, in the 70's there was a huge feminist movement  Women from all across America united together for a common cause of equality. In my opinion, the most successful result of this movement was TITLE IX which was part of the education amendment  In summary, it said that no federally funded school program can show any bias for gender differences. This was huge for women. Previously, most women had a "place" inside the home, and taking care of children. Women have come very far since then. Every year, women in the work force grow. The traditional belief that a woman's  place is at home is now shattered.  Or is it? This is the question that began my search and through these projects, I have attempted to discover the answer.

What are "important" people saying about gender discrimination toward girls? When my research began I was really shocked at the stance that most people in the academia world were taking. For example, the most influential people that I researched for my topic were David and Myra Sadker. The couple wrote a book,  Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls. In it, they conducted a huge research project since the 60's that was completed and published in 1994 on subtle ways that a bias based on gender is woven into the classroom, and why girls don't usually pursue "male oriented" professions. They spoke of how boys were more likely to receive praise and recognition by teachers, as girls were instructed more toward the feminine ideal.

Is there gender discrimination toward boys, too? On the other side of the argument were people like a journalist, Anna Mulrine. She composed many studies and opinions of scientist that have done various research that is believed to prove that boys are the weaker sex because they are slower to develop. It is believed that though women's brains are generally smaller than men's it is more refined. There were other's who argued that boys do not get the emotional attention that they need because it's common practice and belief that boys don't need it as much as girls, and that is an explanation as to why boys are shown to fall behind girls on many of the academic levels that schools test for.

What are my personal experiences? When thinking back on my lifetime, I've always remembered when I was in middle school I had a teacher who never liked girls. I'm not saying that when I went through with her is really serious discrimination, but it's something that did happen.

Why I chose to focus on the interviews that I did? The Sadkers main focus was on why girls do not usually pursue the male oriented careers. Therefore, I thought of the greatest male-dominated career in my opinion, engineering. For my final project, I used a male and female interview who are both in UNCC's engineering department. So I figured that if there's any gender discrimination going on inside school systems today, this department would be the most likely candidate.

What did the people that I interviewed have to say? As I figured, they both had experienced and witnessed times where there were subtle moments of discrimination or un-fair treatment based on gender. The female that was interviewed, Bristol spoke of a time when she was singled-out in the classroom. She was the only female in her freshman engineering class. She spoke with me about how she felt as if the professor expected her to preform poorly in the course.  She did however, succeed in the course and is still on track for a degree in engineering. The male that I interviewed, Randy told me a time when the teacher in his class made his female partner talk more than anyone else. He spoke of how he thought that the girl wouldn't know much about the topic at hand, because she was a female.

What are my views? When beginning these projects, I thought that I had a clear and defined view on what I thought about gender discrimination in the school system. I took an AP U.S. History course in high school, and gained a lot of knowledge of the feminist movement. That class gave me the perspective that in the past, discrimination based on gender was a big deal, but now it is unheard of. However, this journey has made my views quite cloudy. I no longer have a clear and defined stance on the topic. I have discovered that yes, it does still exist but because of Americas laws it's subtle actions that compose any unfair treatment that occurs. On my third mini project blog, I had a comment from a girl named Gloria, I believe that she was right on when she said, ..."or maybe we've simply constructed nuances that make them (referring to gender discrimination's) less noticeable...". Yes, it is no where near as prevalent as it use to be, but maybe we have just come so far that "little" episodes that occur are brushed off as not that big of a deal.

How I went about construction this video? For the media format for this project I was originally going to draw it like I did in my third mini project but I have gone horse this weekend and sound rather manly so the voice over for that would have probably been rather scary. I originally got that idea from a great vlogger, Jenna Marbles and a video that she recently did. But since I couldn't really talk I knew that I had to do something silent. So I've seen these video on facebook before where people tell their stories on notecards just with writing. An example of one is here.  It's just a way for people to express and share their story I really couldn't find a happy one so sorry if you want to watch it. It's rather sad but I think that it's not as sad as most.

Enjoy the video. Also, thanks to all of those that I interviewed. Have a great summer!

Works Cited

Chapman, Amanda. "Gender Bias in Education." Gender Bias in Education. D'Youville College, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.

Mulrine, Anne. "Are Boys the Weaker Sex?" US News. U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.

Pavalko, Susan M. "JITE V33n1 - Under Review - Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls." JITE V33n1 - Under Review - Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls. Virginia Tech, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.

Sadker, Myra, and David Miller Sadker. Failing at Fairness: How America's Schools Cheat Girls. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1994. Print.