The concept of discrimination exists on the global level. In this developing world, no corner is untouched with the impact of discrimination. The discrimination occurs on various bases such as gender, race, color, etc. The gender bias is the most common type of practices followed in most of the countries of the world. Between both the genders, the girls or women have to suffer from the practices of bias and discrimination. The discrimination with women exists in all the aspects of life such as social, physical, professional, educational, etc.
In the developing countries, there are two most powerful areas of bias against women, which are education and wages. The gender bias in education is a critical issue in front of the women of the whole world. The gender bias in education refers to the difference between the treatment with the boys and girls in the schools and unequal opportunities of education for girls and boys (Childs, 1990). In the whole world, the boys are provided with more or better opportunities of education than girls. In the schools, the boys and girls are given seats according to the gender basis.
The behavior of the teachers also varies with girls and boys. There are various causes of gender bias in education. The main reason of gender bias is the failures of most of the families to attribute inter household extraversions. The shape and size of discrimination or bias with women or girls also differs from region to region. In most of the countries, the social norms cause gender bias in education. According to social norms of most of the countries, it is considered that the boys support the parents economically and there is no contribution of girls in the family budget.
This becomes the basis of provision of higher education for boys. In addition to this, there are various other causes of gender bias in education in the communities of the developing countries. Thus, the gender bias in education is a critical problem presently for which various actions are being taken up regularly. Literature Review The literature review of the given problem of gender bias in education can be supported with several literary materials. Various literary evidences are available to prove that the gender bias is a critical problem on the global level.
The literature can support that this problem exists in most of the countries of the world. Various researches and studies have been done to prove the impact of the gender bias in the societies. The literature review of the given discussion is including the causes of gender bias in education and various kinds of impacts of the gender bias on the economic growth. In the same discussion, it is also analyzed whether there should be gender discrimination in the public sector education or not.
In this article, the issue of gender bias in education is conceived as the one of the matters of the foremost concern. In the development economics, investigators state that investment of the human capital in girl’s education is substantially more important. Besides that, it also helps in changing the household economic consumption practices with a decrease in income share (Pasqua, 2001). Thus, it is concluded that the Gender bias in education is not only an inequality issue, but also a great hindrance to the economic development in various ways stated above.
This article also reflects various reasons of gender bias in education such as the significant role played by girls in the domestic activities, high costs of admitting a girl child to school, low private returns to women’s education, and girl’s role in conventional social club. According to the literacy evidence provided in the article, model of the household bargaining is used to look into the matter of gender inequality and to find reasons why parents render more attention to boys’ education than girls’ education (Pasqua, 2001).
This model is quite helpful in evaluating the gender bias in education so that effective steps can be implemented easily According to Blinder (1998), parents have to make an equal investment in their children’s education, be it a girl or boy. Dowry is believed to be another great reason for gender bias in education because parents want to utilize their funds or savings to invest them with a dowry, so that their daughter get wedded easily with a rich or civilized man. In our society, the higher the dowry, the higher is the probability to get richer family.
Besides that, parents also perceive that only a highly educated son will render or assure them good living environment, higher income and high dowry. In 1995, after the UN Beijing conference, it was concluded that gender bias in education must be seriously considered in order to eradicate its future impact. This article depicts that highly literate girls induce an approach to economic resources, earn higher income, are more generative in house activities and child care, and also bring in high social returns i. e. low fertility, good healthy environment and equal resources distribution within the family (Pasqua, 2001).
As per this article, there is a positive interrelationship between the gender biases in education and economic growth. The various theoretical and empirical studies reflect how the gender differences in education affect the economic growth. Klasen (1999, 2002) states various parameters related to the gender inequality in education and economic development. As per this issue, the theoretical literature proposes the following points that must be looked at in order to finding out the effects (Klasen & Lamanna, 2003). As per the literacy evidence, the first parameter is linked with the average amount of human capital in a society.
This reflects that the fair amount of human capital in a society reduces due to the gender inequality and damages performance of the economy. It does so by artificially restricting the pool of talent to draw for education and thereby excluding highly qualified girls and taking less qualified boys instead. The externalities of female education is second parameter, which depicts that raising the girls’ education is not only cutting down the fertility & child mortality levels, but also boosting up the next generation education. In turn, all the factors have a positive impact on economic growth.
The third parameter is related to the international competitiveness. Due to the problem of the gender bias in the field of education, the nations become unable to utilize the above given chance on their best level. Thus, to achieve this competitive advantage, women are required to be trained equally as men and there should be complete elimination of the gender bias in education system. As per the empirical manifest, gender bias in education brings down the economic growth. By applying the slow growth framework, many analysts determine that gender bias in education importantly cut down the level of Gross domestic product.
Thus, it is concluded that an increase in the economic growth of a country is a big challenge and it has an equal concern with the role of the educated women as both male and female have equal potential to use their learning for the betterment of the country (Klasen & Lamanna, 2003). The third evident to analyze the problem of gender bias is the description extracted from script related to the public education and gender inequality. This is analyzed in the discussion whether the public education should be free from gender bias or not.
In this literature review, the meaning of the gender free education is defined in various ways like active effort to ignore the gender difference and exemption from the gender inequality in equation. In this book, it is also conceived that removing hindrances posed to education is a good factor that ultimately affects the country’s growth. The equal involvement in educational process is a vital proportion of equal education chance. As per the researcher, it is found that in schools, girls are given lesser attention by the teachers regarding any kind of educational aspect (Stone & Boldt, 1994).
This makes the girls utilize their learning opportunity on a very low level in comparison to the boys. On the other side, girls are also prohibited to take part in the co-curricular activities of the schools such as sport activities and cultural activities. This creates a great degree of depression in girls. Due to this gender inequality in education field, most of the girls who have better skills and abilities to learn do not become able to contribute their skills and learning in the innovative activities. In this condition, they are probably considered less skilled than male pupils.
All the above description concludes that there should be equalities in education for both the girls and boys and public sector education must be completely free from the issue of the gender bias (Stone & Boldt, 1994). With this a healthier education environment can be maintained in the society, which ultimately promotes the economic development of the community. Data Education is the source, which benefits individuals universally. Both male and female promote national development on the basis of literacy rate. If one of the genders lacks adequate level of education, the economy of the country has an adverse effect of this.
The increased level of education assists both males and females equally to increase their resultant earnings and generate new future opportunities for both the genders. The well educated girls provide various kinds of additional socio-economic benefits. The additional benefits include high level productivity of economy, increased rate of household income, reduction in population growth and better and healthier environment for the children in homes and schools. Despite these benefits, there is a great gender bias in the field of education on global level.
The problem of gender bias has become a critical problem in the developing countries. In spite of the good study level, the girls are discriminated in the field of education. In the co-educational schools, girls are not behind the boys in any field. Many times girls perform equal to or better than boys. With the increasing level of education, the problem of bias becomes rigid as the parents think that the basic knowledge is sufficient for their daughters. Outside the responses of the teachers, in the field of education, various types of special services are provided more generously to the boys rather than girls.
According to some researches done on education basis, it can be seen that in the special education programs, the ratio of the boys is more than the girls. The proportion of the male students is higher in the receiving of the various kinds of educational facilities. (Gender Equality and Education, 2005) It is also argued that girls have learning disabilities, which make the participation of the boys in the special education program to a greater extent, but the medical science has proved that the learning abilities of both the genders are equal.
The school administrations mainly identify behavioral problems rather than learning problems. They state that boys play more effective part in education programs than girls. There should be gender equality in the field of education. The level of education depends on the level of mental ability of individuals, their aptitudes, and interests. It should not be based on gender. If the level of education varies regarding these aspects, it creates gender bias in education. There are a number of dimensions of equality of gender in the field of education.
Out of the entire dimension, the four important dimensions are equivalence of access, equal process of learning, balanced educational outcomes, and equivalence of the external results. These four dimensions are very essential for the maintenance of equality in the field of education on the basis of gender. A wide range of factors determine the gender bias in the education. These factors are levels of enrollments, the way of the teachers’ responses, interaction with the students, and the level of results of the students and the influence of the school environment on the students.
To prevent the problem of gender bias in education, various acts have been formed by the governments on global level, such as in the year 1972, Title IX was passed by the Department of Education of the United States to make amendments to prevent gender inequality in schools (Champman, 2008). The AAUW (American Association of University Women) commissioned a thorough study on the problem of the gender bias in education in the year 1991. These studies and the researches done by the AAUW concluded that the girls are biased in various ways by the average number of schools.
According to these studies, in the average schools, equal attention is not given to the girls and boys by the teachers. The teachers interact more with the boys and ask complicated questions from boys. The teachers also encourage boys more than girls to have higher education. In various schools, the achievements of the girls are ignored and they have presented the stereotypical images of the women or girls in front of the world. The governments are making several efforts to resolve the problem of gender bias in the field of education to make the world more advanced.
In 1948, the United Nations adopted a universal declaration related to basic human rights under which it was described that to have the basic quality education is one of the fundamental rights and there should be no bias on the gender basis in the field of education. In the year 1990, the WCEFA (World Conference on Education for All) formed the right of education one more time (Gender Equality in Basis Education, 2002). In the conference, the Article 1 supported that all the individuals are equally authorized to have the benefits of the opportunities of higher level of education.
The declaration was made not only to support the growth of the illiterate population of the world but its main aim was to resolve the imbalance of educational opportunities on gender basis. The declaration made it clear that the women and girl education should become a priority and the entire obstacles, which reduce the education opportunities of girls should be removed (Education from A Gender Equality Perspective, 2008). Presently, the UNESCO is doing various efforts to support UNGEI with its strategic framework to promote its strategy of general equality in the basic education.
In Sudan, the USAID provides great support to the educational activities, which is resulting into a higher level of literacy rate of women and girls. In Sudan, a number of girls are given scholarships so that they can get higher education. Various kinds of training programs are also started by the governments to promote the girl education. There is a great requirement of the girl’s education as it is advantageous for the individuals as well as the nation in all aspects. Well educated girls can provide greater results for the nation. The girls’ education makes their marriages delayed, which improves the economic level of the country.
The educated girls increase the family income and thus, indirectly increase the productivity of the nation. In the present developing world, the educated girls can provide the greatest level of return. The removal of bias from the basic level of education provides a great degree of economic, social and political development which cannot be ignored. The women with better school education can be proved better workers in comparison to the illiterate women. Due to this, the governments of many nations are now promoting girls’ education for uplifting their economic growth.
The women with basic education can support their community more; it provides them the knowledge of legal rights. Summary The above discussion can be summarized to make the discussion easily understandable. It is clear from the data provided that gender bias in education has become a very critical problem on global level. In schools, a great level of gender discrimination exists, as the teachers have different responses for girls and boys. This gender biases in the field of education affect the economy of the coutries adversely.
Other than economy, the social and legal aspects of the individuals are also affected by the lesser rate of education of the girls. The literature review is supporting the fact that the problem of gender bias in education is a great one. The evidences provided in the review are supporting the critical aspect of the problem. The governments of all the countries are making various efforts to resolve the degree of gender bias in the field of education. Various legal amendments have been made by the constitutions of various countries to promote the girls’ education.
It has been analyzed that the countries having educated women are more developed on economic basis. These women can support their families financially and they can also care their families in better way. Conclusion Further, it can be concluded that there are three essential elements of the strategy of education namely quality, achievement and retention. It is analyzed that both the girls and boys can use these elements with their full potential. The practice of gender bias in education is not considered fair regarding this matter.
It has been ensured that both the genders can have maximum levels of benefits from the education and both contribute equally in the growth of the company. Due to some social malpractices and misperceptions of the school teachers, the problem of gender bias in education took a rigid stage on international level. To resolve this critical problem, various effective practices are being adopted by the different economies to increase their growth level. If such efforts of all the countries become united, the problem of gender bias in education can be removed completely. References
Champman, A. (2008). Gender Bias in Education. Retrieved April 2, 2009, from http://www. edchange. org/multicultural/papers/genderbias. html Childs, Ruth Axman (1990). Gender bias and fairness. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 2(3). Retrieved April 2, 2009, from http://pareonline. net/getvn. asp? v=2&n=3 Education from A Gender Equality Perspective, (2008). Retrieved April 2, 2009, from http://www. ungei. org/resources/files/Education_from_a_Gender_Equality_Perspective. pdf Gender Equality and Education, (2005). Retrieved April 2, 2009, from http://www. unfpa.
org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_gender. htm Gender Equality in Basis Education, (2002). Retrieved April 2, 2009, from http://unesdoc. unesco. org/images/0012/001281/128121e. pdf Klasen, S. & Lamanna, F. (2003). The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and Employment on Economic Growth in the Middle East and North Africa. University of Munich. Pasqua, S. (2001). A Bargaining Model for Gender Bias in Education in Poor Countries. Retrieved April 2, 2009, from http://web. econ. unito. it/prato/papers/qr50. pdf Stone, L. & Boldt, G. M. (1994). The Education feminism reader. Routledge.