Experiment on stereotyping

Press, 13 August 1980, Page 21

Experiment on stereotyping

Westport will be the site of a unique Department of Education experiment in breaking down sex stereotyping in schools. The project is the brainchild of the department’s education officer for women (Mrs Mary Garlick) and a special advisory committee that has looked into the position of women in schools. It has been approved “in principle” by the department and should be in operation by early 1981.

According to Mrs Garlick, Westport had been chosen for the experiment because it encompassed a cluster of schools within a relatively small area. It also provided an easy access to a country area with a “probably close community” where there had previously been little influence in women’s issues.

Departmental officers will go into the schools and run in-service training courses on the. limiting effects of sex stereotyping. At the same time, sessions will be run for parents within the community. Mrs Garlick ‘said the need for such a programme in schools had arisen be.cause not enough women were reaching positions of top responsibility within the work-force. Nowhere was this more evident than in the schools themselves.

Mrs Garlick’s job as education officer has involved travelling to various parts of New Zealand in response to requests from groups to run courses on

stereotyping and the position of women in education. These encouraged women to seek promotion, to acquire skills in new areas, and to “get involved.” The fifth of such courses is planned for November.

Mrs Garlick said it was too early to evaluate the success of the courses. Inequalities existed, and it was hoped that by continually going out into the community some changes could be effected. If the Westport scheme was found to be worth while, the in-service training could extend to other communities, said Mrs Garlick. Mrs Garlick was “dismayed” that the principal’s job in girls’ schools had sometimes gone to men. It was important that a role model was provided for young girls and that they saw women in a position of authority. The importance of having this leadership function for women outweighed suggestions that the job should go to the best qualified person — which frequently meant a man. . . The teaching service had to recognise that women had a good contribution to make and that, often, they needed extra encouragement to counter their early socialisation. It should also learn to accommodate a continuing family interest, for at present many women were in a “no win” type of situation — criticised for not working, and criticised for not staying at home.