Stereotyping holds back women teachers — principal

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 8

Stereotyping holds back women teachers — principal

PA Wellington Stereotyped attitudes about women’s roles hold back female teachers from gaining senior positions in schools, says an article in the latest Educational Institute journal. The article, by the Horotiu School principal, Judy Dixon, says women comprise 73 per cent of the teaching profession, but only 16 per cent of women teachers hold general principal positions, which clearly demonstrates a gross ityStatistics showed more women were being appointed as

senior teachers and principals of small schools but there were no top management positions in primary schools, she said. A clear majority of women teach younger children and one reason given for a concentration of women in the junior school was that because children were used to having their mothers at home they needed motherly attention when they began school, the article says.

There was also the public perception of discipline, with effective discipline often associated with the use of

physical power. “These assumptions influence women’s psychological acceptance of junior teaching positions and close their options for careers in management,” the article says.

The most common response to why teachers had not applied for promotion was insufficient service. The career break for women to rear their children penalised them later when many aspired to management positions in education. Also, women but not men, were singled out asiiot being committed

to their career because of their family role, the article says.

“The messages are that men teach older children, • women younger, and that men generally ‘manage’ and women ‘teach’,” the article says. Unlike men, women teachers had few role models in top management and therefore had to create their own style. This often placed them in a no-win position because of sexstereotyped attitudes regarding appropriate sex roles, the article says.y. .