Psychology
in
rhr
Schools
1982.
19.
250-254
ENDING THE PERPETUATION
A POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCE
OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANDROGYNY
OF
SEX-ROLE STEREOTYPES IN OUR SCHOOLS:
VONDA
0.
LONG
University
of
New Mexico
Research
has shown that both historically and currently there has been sex-
differentiated staffing in American public schools, with a disproportionate number of
female teachers at the elementary level. Concern long has been expressed regarding
the impact this might have
on
the sex-role development of American children and the
perpetuation of stereotypic staffing patterns. This article supports the hypothesis that
psychologically androgynous individuals might be more likely than masculine
or
feminine individuals to base teaching level choice upon individual preference without
regard
for
its stereotype as more appropriate
for
one sex than the other. Data
collected from preservice teachers at Washington State University support this
hypothesis. It was found that while feminine females were more apt to choose the
elementary teaching level, masculine males were more apt to choose secondary
teaching.
In
comparison, androgynous preservice teachers of both sexes were as likely
to choose the elementary as secondary teaching level.
Research has suggested that polarized sex-roles (sex-roles in which the masculine
and feminine role expectations reflect opposites
on
a bipolar continuum; i.e., rational vs.
emotional, leader vs. follower) have been established in American culture (Bem,
1974;
Broverman, Broverman, Clarkson, Rosenkrantz,
&
Vogel,
1970;
Goldberg,
1968).
For
example, masculinity has been associated with a cognitive, task-oriented focus, while
femininity has been linked with an affective, relationship-oriented focus. According to
Kagen
(1964)
and Kohlberg
(1966),
a “highly sex-typed” individual behaves in accor-
dance with appropriate sex-role standards and suppresses behaviors considered to be in-
appropriate for his/her gender, thus restricting the range of behaviors s/he feels comfor-
table expressing. It would be very important to a highly sex-typed male, for instance,
not
to behave
in
ways associated with the feminine sex-role expectation, such as emotional
crying; and important to the highly sex-typed female not to behave in ways associated
with the male role expectation, such as being dominant
or
forceful. Additionally, a key
component
in
the process of sex-typing seems to be observation and sex-role modeling
(Kagen,
1964;
Maccoby,
1966;
Mischel,
1966).
In other words, children learn what
behaviors are appropriate to their gender by observing the actions and behaviors of
adults of their gender.
In American schools, the teaching of young children historically has been associated
with child-rearing, and therefore considered appropriate for females rather than males in
our
society (Elsbree,
1939;
Lee,
1973).
Several reasons have been offered for this
historical phenomenon, ranging from the widespread belief that females have a natural
disposition to “better understand’’ children (Elsbree,
1939),
to the belief that the
American Civil War played a key role by taking the men to war and leaving the job of
teaching to the American women (Lee,
1973),
to
the belief that teaching has been one of
the only “noble professions” open to women (Cohen,
1974).
Regardless
of
the reason,
however, a recent survey showed that the majority of elementary school teachers are
female, and that the percentage of female teachers decreased with higher grade levels:
Requests
for
reprints should be sent to Vonda
0.
Long, Dept. of Counselor Education, University
of
New
Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
871
3
I.
2
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