Lesson one

Sexism in school – Boys still

get more attention than girls
doMyra and David
Sadker
 gender-stereotyping
gender equality gender equity

Ascribing certain attributes,

The concept that women and men, girls
and boys have equal conditions,
treatment and opportunities for realizing
their full potential, human rights and
dignity, and for contributing to (and
benefitting from) economic, social,
cultural and political development.
The process of being fair to men characteristics and roles to people
and women, boys and girls, and based on their gender.
importantly the equality of Gender stereotyping becomes
outcomes and results. harmful when it limits a person’s
life choices, such as training and
professional path, and life plans.

gender bias gender mainstreaming

gender-based constraints
Constraints that women or men face
that are a result of their gender.
Making decisions based on gender that
result in favoring one gender over the
other which often results in contexts that
are favoring men and/or boys over
women and/or girls.
A strategy to accelerate progress
on women’s and girls’ rights and
equality in relation to men and
boys.
Sexism in education

What fields are most problematic in terms

of gender biases?
Math based fields
Science based fields
Fields dealing with technology
…

Commonalities between these areas?

Is sexism still prevalent
in school? 
How to eliminate?
 Topic
Why Gender Equality Is
Good for Everyone - Men
Included?

Gender Equality Survey

Present the survey results  
This text is originally a research paper published in the American journal
Psychology Today and later reprinted in the newspaper San Francisco
Chronicle.
Make the results of a serious research accessible to the general public.

Public understanding of science

Citizen science
Why is it important? 
 Public understanding of science
 The public communication of science and technology includes,
in its widest sense, all of the means, manners, and sites that
promote an interaction among science, technology, and the
public.

 Popularization opens science and technology communication to

new voices, to new information generators, and to new critics.
But despite a growing acceptance of such activities by the
scientific community since the 1980s, popularization is still
rarely encouraged or rewarded by academic institutions.

 It can reach beyond individual scientific disciplines to attract

wider public participation in scientific research, leading to the
overall advancement of scientific knowledge.

 It has ample capacity for transdisciplinarity and for integrating

natural, physical, and health sciences with the humanities and
social sciences.
 Four main stages in the process of scientific communication
intraspecialist level (e.g., papers published in specialized
scientific journals)

interspecialist level involves “interdisciplinary

popularization” (e.g., papers published in journals like
Nature or Science);

pedagogic level (e.g., textbooks)

Popularization is regarded
not as a translation or
simplification of scientific
popular level, or popularization addressed at the discourse, but as a
general public, mainly done via mass media (e.g., discursive
science news in the daily press). recontextualization for a
less specialist audience,
including scientists in other
(sub)disciplines.
Proximity

Proximity “is concerned with how writers represent not only themselves and their readers,
but also their material, in ways which are most likely to meet their readers’ expectations and
enables us to explain “how writers take their readers’ likely objections, background
knowledge, rhetorical expectations and reading purposes into account” (Hyland, 2010, p.
117).

Hyland (2010) discusses five ways through which proximity is negotiated: (a) organization:
adapting the rhetorical pattern to the audience’s expectations and needs; (b) argument
structure: shaping material for the audience through different types of appeals (e.g., novelty,
newsworthiness) and focusing (centering on the object of the study or on the disciplinary
procedures), and framing or “tailoring information to the assumed knowledge base of
potential readers” (e.g., jargon in research paper vs. definitions and clarifications in
popularizations); (c) credibility (e.g., showing expertise and knowledge of disciplinary
methods in research papers vs. direct quotes from scientists in popularizations); (d) stance:
using language to adopt positions and express attitude (e.g., hedges vs. attitude markers); and
(e) engagement: markers that acknowledge the presence of the readers and connect to them
(e.g., reader pronouns).
The style of the text
This text is originally a research paper published in the American journal Psychology Today and later
reprinted in the newspaper San Francisco Chronicle. As such it bears quite distinctive features both of an
academic magazine article and of a newspaper one.

The writer of a research paper lays great emphasis on a clear and logic presentation of his arguments,
illustrations and conclusions based upon a substantial amount of scientific data. The editor of a
newspaper, on the other hand, is reader conscious and space conscious. This usually puts great pressure
on the writer since he must try to present his material in a limited space as interestingly as possible.

Some major stylistic features:

1. Visual effect
2. Lively introduction
3. Academic flavour
Structural analysis of the text
Global reading
Introduction: contains a brief description of the present situation at school, and more
Part 1
significantly, the authors’ thesis argument which is in fact a rephrasing of the subtitle of
(1-2)
the article.
_______________________________________ Paras 3-12 focus on the fact that boys and
girls get different amounts and different
Part 2 Support the theme, arguing at the same time kinds of teacher attention.
(3-18) that teachers’ sexist attitudes can directly
affect students’ progress in learning. Para 13 is transitional. It contains a brief
_______________________________________ summary of variable “attention” and a quick
introduction to “feedback” with the word
“also” signalling the shift from one subtopic
to another.

Paras 14- 22 give details of how boys and

girls are given different qualities of teacher
feedback to their answers.

Part 3 The writers deviate from the subject by wandering into sexism in the workplace. The authors’
(19) purpose in writing this section is to show the far-reaching harmful effects of sexism in
_______________________________________
school.
It offers practical ways of overcoming sexist attitudes in school.
Part 4 The authors make a call for immediate efforts to wipe out sexism in school. This brings us
(20-21) back to the thematic warning that classroom sexism still exists today.
_______________________________________
 Detailed Reading Paragraph 3

Education is not a spectator sport.

Paraphrase
Education requires the participation of both the teachers and students, both boys and girls.

 A spectator is a viewer or an onlooker, e.g.

The spectators at the football match became violent when their team lost.

A sport is called a spectator sport from the point of view of those who go to it in order to
enjoy watching it, rather than to take part in it. It is a sport watched by huge crowds of
people.
Meaning
We say education is not a spectator sport, because it is a process for students to
participate in.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 3
hold more positive attitudes toward school

Paraphrase
 look up on education more favorably; more inclined to think that going to school is
useful.

coincidence  noun a situation in which events happen at the same time in a way that is not
planned or expected
by coincidence
Unintentionally happening at the same time or in the same way as something else.
By coincidence, my sister and I bought our mom the same sweater for her birthday.

the long arm of coincidence

The broad, far-reaching power or influence of coincidence.
The film relies too heavily on the long arm of coincidence to bring its many 
characters and convoluted plot points together.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 4
Call on

to elicit a response from (someone, such as a student)

The teacher called on her first.

(informal) to directly criticize (someone) for (something, such as bad behavior)

call her on her fascination with all things violent and degrading

call (one) names

To mock or disparage one with rude or offensive names.
My son is miserable because the kids at his new school call him names.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 4
But in reality, the boys in the film were out-talking the girls at a ratio of three to one.
out-talking the girls: talking more than the gills.
The prefix out- is added to verbs with the meaning of “greater or better than”.

She doesn’t drink or smoke and I’m sure she will outlive us all.

live longer than

Detailed Reading Paragraph 5
Rural vs Urban vs Suburban
The main difference between rural, urban and suburban areas is that rural areas
are generally open and spread out with a small population while the suburban
areas are residential areas with a larger population than rural areas whereas the
urban area is one with a high population for both living and working.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 5

Language arts is a course under the more general subject “English”

taught to children whose native language is English. A course in
English trains students in knowledge of English and literary
appreciation, but language arts is particularly concerned with training
students in reading, writing, and speaking, skills in using the
language for effective communication.

Similarly, math comes under the more general subject title “science”.
This parallel relation is most evident in the sentence “whether the
subject was language arts and English or math and science”.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 7
more than their fair share of teacher attention

Paraphrase

 more teacher attention than is supposed to be fair

Detailed Reading Paragraph 8
 idiom
a/the squeaky wheel gets the grease/oil
 
used to say that someone who complains or causes problems is more likely to receive attention or
help than someone who stays quiet and does not cause problems.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 8
In fact, our research shows that boys are more assertive in the classroom.

Our research does show that the alleged claim made by some critics is true, but being more
assertive is not in any way the only reason for teachers to talk more to make students. There is a
subtle but more powerful reason behind that.

The word “are” has been italicized to emphasize its contrastive relation to the
word “however” three lines below. It produces a similar effect to that of the pattern
“It is true … but …”.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 9
reprimand transitive verb

to reprove sharply or censure formally usually from a position of authority

Synonyms: Verb
baste, bawl out, call down, chew out, dress down, hammer, keelhaul, lambaste 

noun  strong official criticism of a person or their behaviour :

 
His boss gave him a severe reprimand for being late.

I received one written reprimand in three years.

Synonym: rebuke 
 Detailed Reading Paragraph 10
Girls are often shortchanged in quality as well as in
quantity of teacher attention.
shortchanged- The literal meaning is “not paid back
enough change by the shop assistant”, or “not getting

67 927
enough”.
to give someone back less money than they are owed when the person
is buying something from you:

e.g., TheTitle here

cashier shortchanged me. Title here
Click here to add your Click here to add your
The text.
figurative meaning
Click here to add is “cheated”, or “not
text. Click heregiven
to add enough
your one
of what text. deserves”. your text.
to treat someone unfairly, by giving them less than they deserve.
a large amount of money 
However, do not shortchange yourself if capturing a tidy profit is important to you.
- Bill Jordan, Dallas News, 27 June 2021
Detailed Reading Paragraph 10
Girls are often shortchanged in quality as well as in quantity of teacher attention.

Paraphrase

 Girls are often cheated both in the quantity and quality of teacher’s attention.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 11

Group discussion

Why is feedback important?

Detailed Reading Paragraph 11
the other end of the educational spectrum

A spectrum is an organised range of something. The educational spectrum ranges

from preschool education, through primary and secondary education, to tertiary
education.

Serbin and O’Leary studies one end of the spectrum, that is, the preschool stage.
The other end, naturally, refers to tertiary education, here represented by the Coast
Guard Academy.
 Detailed Reading Paragraph 12
sex desegregation

Sex segregation refers to the old practice of officially keeping male and female students
physically apart from each other, e.g., separating boys and girls into different dining
rooms for meals.

Sex desegregation originally means the eradication of such old practice. Now the
meaning has been broadened to include efforts made to stop treating males and
females differently.
academy – a college offering instruction or training in a special field, especially in music, art,
physical education, and military training.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 13

“Do it yourself” can be either (1) a statement telling you to accomplish the
task on your own or
(2) a description of something you buy partly finished or incomplete and
you cobble together out of improvised materials.

“Do it by yourself” implies you are alone or are told to be alone as you do it.
The “by yourself” focuses on the fact that you are solitary.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 13
Classroom chivalry is not only misplaced, it is detrimental.
Paraphrase
 The “Let-me-do-it” behavior of the teachers towards girls in class is both improper
and harmful.
chivalry

 the system of values (such as loyalty and honor) that knights in the Middle Ages were
expected to follow

Medieval chivalry
the knight’s code of chivalry

 Chivalry is polite, kind, and unselfish behaviour, especially by men towards women.

Detailed Reading Paragraph 13
bland
If you describe someone or something as bland, you mean that they are rather dull and unexciting.  

e.g. She has a blander personality than his sister.

Food that is bland has very little flavour.

e.g. The vegetable soup was rather bland.

My first attempts - tough, bland, ungainly, sometimes all three - were pallid imitations
of Raich’s handiwork.
- Tribune News Service, cleveland, 4 Jan. 2022
Detailed Reading Paragraph 13
diffuse
 If something such as knowledge or information is diffused, or if it diffuses somewhere, it is
made known over a wide area or to a lot of people.
e.g. Over time, the technology is diffused and adopted by other countries.
 To diffuse a feeling, especially an undesirable one, means to cause it to weaken and lose its power to 
affect people.

e.g. The arrival of letters from the president did nothing to diffuse the tension.

 If something diffuses light, it causes the light to spread weakly in different directions.

e.g. Diffusing a light also reduces its power.

In Los Angeles County, the impacts of the pandemic have been relatively diffuse, with
millions of residents suffering and grieving in isolation across a famously vast sprawl.
- Matthew Bloch, New York Times, 29 Jan. 2021
Detailed Reading Paragraph 15
Despite caricatures of school as a harsh and punitive place, fewer than 5
percent of the teachers’ reactions were criticism, even of the mildest sort.
caricature  noun
  exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics
drew a caricature of the president
 a representation especially in literature or art that has the qualities of caricature
His performance in the film was a caricature of a hard-boiled detective.

 a distortion so gross as to seem like caricature

The court was a caricature of justice.
transitive verb to make or draw a caricature of

punitive adj.

involving, or aiming at punishment

Punitive actions are intended to punish people.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 15
Despite caricatures of school as a harsh and punitive place, fewer than 5
percent of the teachers’ reactions were criticism, even of the mildest sort.

Punitive and the Law

Punitive is an important word in the law. When you sue a person or company for
having wronged you in some way, you normally ask for something of value equal to
what you were deprived of by the other party. But when the defendant has done
something particularly bad, you may also ask for punitive damages, money over and
above the actual cost of the harm done, intended to teach the defendant a lesson.
Punitive damages are fairly rare, but when they’re actually granted they may be as
much as four times the size of the basic damages.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 16

Role play
Detailed Reading Paragraph 16
Too often, girls remain in the dark about the quality of their answers.

Paraphrase
Too often, girls remain ignorant of the quality of their answers. / remain uninformed about
the quality of their answers.

in the dark (about something)  not knowing very much about something, because other 
people are keeping it secret from you
 Detailed Reading Paragraph 18
Unfortunately, acceptance, the imprecise response packing the least educational
punch, gets the most equitable sex distribution in classrooms.
Paraphrase
 The least useful kind of feedback (acceptance) is distributed between boys and girls
most impartially, while the more useful kinds of feedback are heavily biased towards
boys. Thus the overall result is that the feedback boys receive is much more beneficial
that that for girls.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 18
Active students receiving precise feedback are more likely to achieve
academically.
Paraphrase
Boy students who get more precise information from the teachers
concerning their class performance have more chances to succeed in their
field of learning.
 Detailed Reading Paragraph 18

Reflection

Why we gender-stereotype jobs?

Glass ceiling refers to the sometimes-invisible
barrier to success that many women come up
against in their careers. 

Occupational segregation.
 Detailed Reading Paragraph 18

Interactive resources refer to features which set out an argument to explicitly establish the writer’s
preferred interpretations. They are concerned with ways of organizing discourse to anticipate readers’
knowledge and reflect the writer’s assessment of what needs to be made explicit to constrain and guide
what can be recovered from the text.

transitions

Frame markers

Endophoric markers

Evidentials

Code glosses
 comprise the rich set of internal devices
used to mark additive, contrastive, and
consequential steps in the discourse

refer to other parts of the text

indicate the source of textual

information which originates
outside the current text

signal the restatement of

information in other way
Detailed Reading Paragraph 19
sexist communication game

Paraphrase
conversation among people which exhibits elements of sexism
 Detailed Reading Paragraph 19

Critical thinking

“Mansplaining”,
“Manspreading”,
“Manterrupting”

Is male-critical language sexist?

Structural analysis of the text
Global reading
Introduction: contains a brief description of the present situation at school, and more
Part 1
significantly, the authors’ thesis argument which is in fact a rephrasing of the subtitle of
(1-2)
the article.
_______________________________________ Paras 3-12 focus on the fact that boys and
girls get different amounts and different
Part 2 Support the theme, arguing at the same time kinds of teacher attention.
(3-18) that teachers’ sexist attitudes can directly
affect students’ progress in learning. Para 13 is transitional. It contains a brief
_______________________________________ summary of variable “attention” and a quick
introduction to “feedback” with the word
“also” signalling the shift from one subtopic
to another.

Paras 14- 22 give details of how boys and

girls are given different qualities of teacher
feedback to their answers.

Part 3 The writers deviate from the subject by wandering into sexism in the workplace. The authors’
(19) purpose in writing this section is to show the far-reaching harmful effects of sexism in
_______________________________________
school.
It offers practical ways of overcoming sexist attitudes in school.
Part 4 The authors make a call for immediate efforts to wipe out sexism in school. This brings us
(20-21) back to the thematic warning that classroom sexism still exists today.
_______________________________________
 Detailed Reading Paragraph 20
There is a light at the end of the educational tunnel.
 a light at the end of the tunnel : a reason to believe that a bad situation
will end soon or that a long and difficult job will be finished soon;
the end of a difficult situation or task, the solution to a difficult problem. 
Detailed Reading Paragraph 20
Classroom biases are not etched in stone, …
Paraphrase

Prejudice against girls in class is something that can be changed, …

Detailed Reading Paragraph 20
“Equity” is fairness or justice. It refers to the quality of the teacher in treating
her students fairly.

“Equality”, on the other hand, refers to the condition of students being equal to
each other in their treatment by the teacher.

Equity is established with a view to the teacher, while equality is

achieved with a view to students.
Detailed Reading Paragraph 20
intellectual discussion
Paraphrase

discussion which calls for special knowledge and high reasoning ability
 Detailed Reading Paragraph 20
Discussion

Why is
Why is itit urgent
urgent to
to do
do away
away with
with
sexism in
sexism in school?
school?
Is itit possible
Is possible to
to do
do so?
so?
 Detailed Reading
Academic flavour

mark the writer’s reluctance to present

ideas

imply certainty and emphasize the

force of propositions

express the writer’s appraisal of propositional information, conveying

surprise, obligation, agreement, importance etc.

reflect the degree of author presence in terms of the incidence

of first person pronouns
 Engagement

• Reader mentions bring readers into a discourse through second person pronouns,
particularly inclusive we which identifies the reader as someone who shares a similar
perspective to the writer.
• Directives are instructions to the reader, mainly expressed through imperatives and
obligation modals, which direct readers a) to another part of the text or to another text, b)
how to carry out some action in the real-world, or c) how to interpret an argument.
• Questions invite direct collusion because they address the reader as someone with an
interest in the issue the question raises and the good sense to follow the writer’s response
to it.
• Appeals to shared knowledge are explicit signals asking readers to recognise something
as familiar or accepted (obviously, of course).
• Personal asides briefly interrupt the argument to offer a comment on what has been said,
adding more to the writer-reader relationship than to propositional development.
Stance: includes features which refer to the ways writers present themselves and convey their
judgements, opinions, and commitments. It is the ways that writers intrude to stamp their personal
authority onto their arguments or step back and disguise their involvement.

Engagement: an alignment dimension where writers acknowledge and connect to others,

recognizing the presence of their readers, pulling them along with their argument, focusing their
attention, acknowledging their uncertainties, including them as discourse participants, and
guiding them to interpretations.