What's Different for Women in the Classroom?Research indicates that women students participate on the average less frequently than men in college classes. Why? communication in college classrooms generally reflects society's different assumptions about the proper ways for men and women to speak.

 We often associate a highly competitive, assertive, and critical way of speaking with successful men. Most Faculty by training are more likely to use this teaching style. When a woman tries to match this style in the classroom, she may be criticized as an over-aggressive nuisance because she disrupts traditional assumptions about how women should behave, including being passive in a discourse dominated by men.

 But taking the opposite approach doesn't save a woman from criticism. If she speaks unassertively, she appears to intrude in an "inappropriate" style. A woman who brings up concerns usually categorized as "women's issues" may be accused of interjecting "non-intellectual" content. Through verbal and non-verbal cues, women get the message that they are outsiders in the classroom. They become silent and invisible to men as the discussion continues without them.

 To encourage women's participation, teachers need to be sensitive to differences between male and female communication styles and learning patterns. In fact, each professor needs to be aware of his or her own gender patterns in teaching style. Research into women's ways of knowing suggests that they emphasize direct experience, relationship, and empathy over objectivity, independence, and criticism. Women may be more comfortable putting things together than taking them apart. By accommodating both kinds of intellectual discovery and development, teachers can enrich their classes, making room for women and expanding men's intellectual horizons.
Women's ways of communicating may make them appear less knowledgeable and even frivolous in a classroom where competitiveness is rewarded. Hesitation and false starts in speech, high-pitched or soft vocal tones, qualifiers when asking questions or making statements, a questioning intonation when making a statement, polite or deferential speech, inappropriate smiling or giggling when talking, and avoiding eye contact when talking are common female classroom behaviors. These styles may not indicate lack of knowledge or seriousness, but rather the students' conditioning. Teachers should help these women to build their confidence and become more articulate. On the other hand, the ability to listen to others and to elicit information, characteristically "feminine" skills, are important intellectual tools that many articulate male students need to learn.
 
 

What a Teacher Can Do to Encourage Women's Participation in Class

• Be a careful observer of classroom dynamics especially during the first few weeks. At this time, make a special effort to bring women into discussions. Look for nonverbal cues that indicate a woman's readiness to speak. Make it clear from the beginning that all students are expected to participate by speaking and listening to each other.

 

 

• Treat a hesitant woman's comment with the same seriousness that you would give an assertive man's.

 

 

• Speak directly to both men and women in class, using their names. Note that when teachers call male students by their last names and women by their first names, they send the message that female scholars may not be equal with males as adults or scholars.

 

 

• Use the same vocal tone in talking with women and men students; make eye contact with both sexes in your class.

 

 

• Avoid addressing your class as if no women were present. Even in single-sex classes, vary your examples and pronouns to include both genders.

 

 

• Use gender neutral language. Avoid language that places women in special categories: a "woman professor" is a professor; a "lady doctor," a doctor. Interchange he/she when speaking about persons in general situations.

 

 

• Give a woman adequate time to answer questions or make comments. Do not rush in immediately if she hesitates or allow her to be interrupted by peers. Note that some women may expect to be interrupted or helped and will unconsciously cue such a response with hesitation or a smile.

 

 

• Do not be less demanding of a student because of his or her sex. Make sure that women are required to offer analysis in discussion as well as recite facts. Ask them what they think. Don't patronize women with "helpful" comments that imply female incompetence.

 

 

• Encourage women to speak by responding positively to their good comments and questions and creating their authorship; e.g., "As Laura said..."

 

 

• Balance criticism with reassurance. While men may take a teacher's criticism as a challenge to do better, women are more likely to take it as a sign that they cannot do well. Above all, comment substantively on their work.

 

 

• Avoid anecdotes and visual as well as verbal examples that reinforce negative stereotypes of women. Do not tolerate their use in student comments or presentations.

 

 

• Encourage women students by visualizing a place for them in your field. Let your students know when a scholar you are discussing is female by using the appropriate pronoun rather than just a last name. Tell a bright woman that she is capable of graduate work.

 

 

• Avoid the temptation to call on only the most articulate or talkative students. Do not allow the same students to dominate every discussion.

 

 

• Do not always wait for women to volunteer to participate. You may have to call on them directly. Expect some resistance and offer reassurance. Make a woman the expert for the moment; e.g., "Susan, you make a very good point in your paper; could you expand on it for the class?"

 

 

• Make sure that you give women as well as men opportunities to take leadership roles or to assist you in class. Avoid assigning tasks based on gender stereotypes.

 

 

• Assign readings that shed equal light on the lives of women and men. Make good use of the copy machine to supplement standard materials if they do not address the experiences of women.

 

 

• Structure your classes to reward empathetic understanding of a subject and listening seriously to others as well as critical analysis and argumentation. Arrange some classes that aren't in question/answer format; organize activities that get students working with each other in class.

 

 

• Do not question a woman's academic commitment simply because she is a woman; e.g., "You're bright, Amanda, but you're so attractive that I'm sure you'll want to do other things with your life."

 

 

• Do not question a woman's academic commitment simply because she is a woman; e.g., "You're bright, Amanda, but you're so attractive that I'm sure you'll want to do other things with your life."

 

 

• Do not refer to a woman's appearance, family, etc. if you do not similarly refer to a man's.

 

 

• See to it that women have equal access to classroom space. Ensure that they are not blocked from viewing experiments, etc.

 

 

• Remember that minority women (this includes women of color, lesbians, third world women, women with special needs, etc.) suffer from double-discrimination in our society. Avoid ethnic/racial stereotypes and do not assume that the experiences of the white, straight, Western women account for all female experiences.

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