Gender+Equity

"When schools ignore sexist, racist, homophobic, and violent interactions, they are giving tacit approval to such behaviors. Environments where students do not feel accepted are not environments where effective learning can take place" (AAUW, 1992, p. 224). Sexist and homophobic attitudes and behaviours occur throughout the school day. Bias can be seen in history texts that feature male explorers and rulers, picture books that feature heterosexual two-parent families or children in the hall saying "that's so gay". What is happening in Canadian schools to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all of our students and families?

Equality is Canadian law. "Equality has a legislative base in Canada, with the //Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms// (being part 1 of the //Constitution Act//, 1982) and the //Human Rights Code// of all the provinces and territories prohibiting discrimination in education and employment" (p.16) ( Help! for these references do I use "Council of Ministers of Education" or "Tobin Associates" - the group that compiled the report? - I've left the link at the bottom if you need to see the document) At a Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, (2004) it was reported that "gender equity has become an integral part of education across Canada in three significant ways:
 * Policies have been developed and implemented
 * Gender equity principals and content have been assimilated into curriculum, teaching practice and school management
 * Gender-based access and achievement have been measured" (p.16).

With these policies in place, curriculum was often rewritten to eliminate gender references, e.g. gender specific pronouns were replaced with the term student. In Ontario, a standard paragraph is now included in all curriculum documents under strategies, "Analysis of Bias and Stereotype" (make it a link to the parapgraph instead of the long quote) as well as a page on 'Antidiscrimination education" (link to page). In spite of this background policy, it is quite easy to cover all specific expectations by promoting male dominance, female domesticity and heterosexism.

Individual school boards have taken on developing specific, explicit curriculum. In Ontario, the most recent information is found on the Toronto District School Board's (2011) [|Equitable and Inclusive School's]website. Specific information is provided for teachers regarding definitions, background information, statistics, how to answer sensitive questions and instructional strategies for all curriculum areas.


 * References**

American Association of University Women. 1992. //How Schools are shortchanging girls: Three perspectives on Curriculum//. In Flinders & Thornton (Ed.) Department of Justice. 1982. //Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Part 1 of the Constitution Act.// Vancouver Gay and Lesbian Educators of BC. 2004. //Challenging Homophobia in schools//.

TDSB. 2003. //A Teaching Resource for teaching controversial and sensitive issues in TDSB classrooms//.

Tobin Associates. (2004). //Quality education for all young people: Challenges, trends and priorities//. Canada. Council of Ministers of Education. [|www.cmec.ca/international/unesco/ice47.en.stm]

Toronto District School Board (2011). //Challenging homophobia and heterosexism//. Toronto, ON: TDSB. Retrieved from: []

Toronto District School Board. (2006). //Gender equity resource// guide. Toronto, ON: Liberty and Learning Resources. Retrieved from:[|Gender Equity Resource]