GENDER SENSITIVITY: A PRERQUISITE FOR TEACHERS IN 21ST CENTURY

Schools have the potential of playing a transformative role in changing the prevalent patriarchal notions and unequal
gender relations. But very often cclassrooms serve as key social and cultural spaces for the production of a range of
gendered performances and relations. The teacher has the key role to provide a safe and gender friendly space for
boys and girls to express themselves and simultaneously develop notions of gender justice among students. A study
was conducted to anlayse the perceptions of teachers about gender equality. Focus group discussion and interviews
with teachers were used to collect the data. Interviews with 48 teachers- 24 male and 24 female, belonging to 24
schools in Malappuram and Thrissur districts of Kerala, 12 at primary and 12 at secondary levels revealed that
majority of teachers lack gender awareness and the concept of gender and its implications are unknown to several of
them. The findings of the study revealed that the perceptions of teachers are gendered with traditional concepts
regarding gender roles of men and women and subject choices of girls and boys. Teachers though following the
gendered practices do so without realizing that their behaviours are gendered. Gender equality according to a few
teachers is only a utopian idea and some of them even declared ‘men are men and women are only women’. Such
statements highlight the extent to which they have internalized the notions of men as the norm and women as the
inferior other. They accept and uphold the popular gender norms regarding masculinity and femininity and
unknowingly transmit them to the future generations. Based on the findings of the study, the author suggests gender
equality as a prerequisite for teachers to ensure gender sensitized pedagogic practices and classroom behaviours of
teachers.