I am male and I know I have privileges I have not have exactly earned.
As discussed in a my first blog post (here) women have been put against a system where they feel oppressed and implicitly stereotyped. Though I am not as culturally competent as I would wish right now, I feel as if I can speak about these sort of things because of my recent interview with Rebecca Walter (Associate Director of the Office of Diversity Inclusion and Multicultural Education a.k.a ODIME). Through my interview with her, which relates to my service spotlight, I learned so much about this issue that I myself would not have been able to learn through personal researcher.
Privilege exists. People such as men, white people, etc. have a given advantage in the United States. The system caters to them and supports them and people such as women, LGBTQ, etc. people are forced to be almost second to those in power.
This particular blog post is on the suppression of women in the classroom. To what extent has the education system catered towards supporting males? Bernice Sandler discusses in her article (here) that in a classroom there is a “climate” where women are at a disadvantage in the education system.
Leadership comes into this topic when discussing ways to tackle this problem. I’m hesitant on using the word “solution” because a solution is almost as complex as the problem. There are ways though that people can help ameliorate the situation in a classroom and even in society.
One particular tid bit about leadership I learned through my interview with Rebecca, I learned that if people in power, such as people in power role in the education system who comprise mostly of males, give up power to the group that is marginalized then there a better chance for the oppressed group to gain a voice.
Leadership is relative, power roles or being in no “official” position, can be seen as leadership. Though I do not completely understand the entire situation because of its complexity, it is still interesting to see how leaders can make an impact if they are willing to play a role in the situation that not everyone would be willing to give up (such as giving up an position of power). Maybe is Obama and Romney stepped down and let Hillary Clinton take charge, the world may not oppress women as much.
October 31st, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Women are generally stereotyped and marginalized into positions that men normally deem as inferior to them. The same goes for other minorities and communities, like the LGBTQ community that is sometimes alienated in society. Does this mean they are incapable of holding positions of higher power or authority? NO! Great post, really enjoyed it!
November 7th, 2012 at 10:15 pm
I had a teacher last year who told my class about a professor she had in college who blatantly discriminated against women – and this was only about ten years ago! It takes a leader to stand up to people like this, or better yet, identify then defy social norms, even the most unnoticeable things, and not discriminate against women.