CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Gender gaps in educational outcomes are now a matter of growing concern to educational researchers today. Boys are increasingly less likely than girls to attend university and to receive a bachelor’s degree. Meanwhile, female undergraduates continue to be under-represented in such technical fields as engineering and computer science. One popular, if controversial, response to these patterns has been a renewed push for single-sex education – an effort that has drawn support from across political divides (Dee, 2006).
Regardless of the academic subject, boys, according to Dee (2006) are two to three times more likely than girls to be seen as disruptive, inattentive, and unlikely to complete their homework. However, how boys and girls view academic subjects vary across subjects in ways that parallel the gender gaps in subject test scores. For example, girls are more likely than boys to report that they are afraid to ask questions in Mathematics, Science, and Social Sciences. They are also less likely to look forward to these classes or to see them as useful for their future. Meanwhile, boys, as compared to girls, register more negative perceptions of English class.
But while boys and girls may exhibit different behaviours and prefer different subjects, Dee (2006) noted that it is not quite the same thing as having a different experience because of the gender of the teacher. The critical question here, therefore, is: Are there any evidences that teachers relate better to students whose gender they share or vice versa? According to Dee (2006), significant patterns can be detected within the United States National Educational Longitudinal Studies (NELS) data survey. He noted that when a class is headed by a woman, boys are more likely to be seen as disruptive, while girls are less likely to be seen as either disruptive or inattentive. Besides, when taught by a man, girls are more likely to report that they did not look forward to the subject, that it is not useful for their future, or that they are afraid to ask questions. The above situation is noted by Dee to be strongest in Science, where students’ report indicates that female science teachers are far more effective in promoting girls’ engagement with those fields of study.
Boys also have fewer positive reactions to their academic subject when taught by an opposite gender teacher. In particular, when taught by a female teacher, boys are more likely to report that they do not look forward to the subject (i.e. loose interest in the subject or find it less intriguing).
Besides, gender differences are obvious from birth and children are socialized very-early into appropriate sex-type occupation (Azikiwe 1993). Gender according to the United Nations (UN) definition as adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women (F.M.C.W) 1996 in Beijing China is “Man and Woman” and this definition applies to this study. Green (1979) reveals that culture and tradition have assigned occupations to males and females in the society, thus each sex is straightjacket in areas considered exclusive for it. For instance, women traditionally are expected to be employed in such areas as nursing and teaching.
Also, in the Nigeria’s Pre-colonial traditional society before the advent of western education, indigenous education of children is polarized between the sexes according to their future roles in the society.
Fafunwa (1974) captures this trend through his explanation that boys received rigorous training on the farm under the instruction of their fathers, while girls underwent training at home in child care food preparation and so on under strict supervision of their mothers. Not too long ago in these times of formal western education in Nigeria, a dichotomy existed strictly in the kind of vocations pursued by boys and girls, perhaps as carryover effects. Emeyeonu (1994:125) properly described this situation by stating that girls were not supposed to go into Engineering, Law, and Medicine but should go into professions like teaching and nursing. He went further to assert that:
“A female student applying to study mechanical engineering is look down upon as an oddity and an exception to the role and perhaps should have her head examined. Girls were supposed to do Arts, Education and Home Economics. Unfortunately, most young Nigeria girls aspiring for higher studies have come to believe this myth and have approached their choice of careers with diffidence and timidity”.