Gender Dimension of Education in Romania

THE GENDER DIMENSION OF EDUCATION IN ROMANIA

by Mihaela Miroiu

SOCO Project Paper No. 83 Vienna 2000

THE GENDER DIMENSION OF EDUCATION IN ROMANIA

Mihaela MIROIU ♣♣♣♣

2000

Abstract The main aims of this research were to have a coherent image on the perception of gender aspects in education especially at the level of secondary and upper secondary schools and to offer suggestions for gender policies in education. In order to fulfill the first aim we investigated: a) the opinions of: students, teachers, directors, deputy inspectors and officials of the Ministry of National Education; b) the content and the methods of the curriculum for the pedagogical upper secondary schools.

Students, teachers, directors and deputy inspectors opinions on gender perception focussed on: the content of the schoolbooks, the relations between students and teachers and students themselves, the relations between different kinds of capacities and gender, the gender dimension of the evaluation process, career orientations, activities recommended and practiced for boys and girls in the school. We tried to detect the discriminatory and the conservative tendencies that undermine an education for gender partnership in the future family, private, professional and public life.

Taking into account the results of the research and the coherence between this research and others, we have formulated suggestions for gender public policies in education concerning: balanced access in education, non-sexist strategies in evaluation, the elimination of gender conservative elements in the hidden curriculum, gender partnership in the educational activities, the elimination of gender segregation as well as changes in the law of education. Research for this paper was made possible by the “Social Consequences of Economic Transformation in East-Central Europe” (SOCO) program (Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna), which is financed

by the Austrian Federal Chancellery’s “Fund for Co-operation with Central and Eastern Europe,” and by the Ford Foundation, New York.

Edited and revised by Dr. William French. Managing Editor: Dr. Marianne Obi (SOCO).

The views expressed in this paper are entirely the authors’ own,

and do not necessarily represent those of SOCO/IWM.

♣ The main participants of this research were: Doina Olga Stefanescu (Step by Step) and Laura Grunberg (AnA – Society for Feminist Analyses).

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1. Overview The object of this research was to delimit the perceptions held by pupils, students, teachers,

and education experts as to the presence, and the specific manifestations of the gender dimension in education.

The goal of our research was to formulate certain elements of educational policy that could be taken into consideration by decision-making bodies in deciding upon short, medium or long-term educational strategies.

The research hypothesis was that among teachers and students there would be little awareness of gender issues in school activities, and therefore no specific concern for these issues.

The method used consisted of the execution of field research consisting of the following: a) A survey realized on a group of experts from the Ministry of National Education, local experts, deputy inspectors and inspectors for primary education, teachers from primary schools and pupils and students from primary and secondary schools. The subjects responding to the questionnaires or in the interviews do not constitute a representative sample of the school population, teachers and experts. The answers collected merely constitute a reference point for further more extended research on the gender issues arising in the complex process of education. This research will be possible, hopefully after the application of the Gender Barometer on a national scale1. For the results see Appendix 1. b) The content analysis of a number of school documents and materials used in the initial teacher training. The research sample was composed of: - 5 education experts from the Ministry of National Education: 4 female, 1 male - 43 county education inspectors: 27 female, 16 male - 176 teachers: 98 from upper secondary schools, 54 in lower secondary schools, 24 from primary schools; 125 female, 46 male, 5 who did not specify their gender. - 309 students: 237 in upper secondary schools (117 humanities, 90 technical, 30 vocational schools), 72 in lower secondary schools; 182 female, 116 male, 11 who did not specify their gender (see Charts 1, 2 and 3 – all charts are located in Appendix 2). 2. The Field Research Data We will present the field research data, analyzing firstly the teachers’ perception of the gender dimension in school life, and secondly the pupils’ perception of the same topic. 2.1. Data Collected from the Application of the Questionnaire on the Teacher Population

As stated above, 176 teachers were questioned, of which 125 were female and 46 male. 5 out of 176 did not specify their gender. 2.1.1. The Perception of Discrimination in the Textbooks a. Of 176 teachers, 151 think that the textbooks are not disadvantageous for any of the groups identified in the question: girls, boys, national or religious minorities (see Chart 4). The answer distribution on the variables used in the research is the following:

• 99 female teachers • 47 male teachers. • 5 who did not specify their gender.

As seniority in education did not prove to have an influence on how teachers perceive the gender issues in education, we did not retain the structuring of the teachers’ group according to this variable. We did not consider, as a separate variable, the teachers’ education level, as the initial training is the same for primary and secondary school teachers. b. Out of 176 answers, there were 25 subjects who thought that the schoolbooks discriminate against one or more of the groups identified in the research (see Chart 5). For this question, 5 teachers made a double choice. The 25 affirmative answers fall into the following categories: 1 The Gender Barometer is a pool coordinated and financed by Open Society Foundation and was applied to a representative sample of Romania’s population by Gallup in August 2000.

3 The Gender Dimension of Education in Romania

• The girls are disadvantaged by the contents of the textbooks: 11 answers (9 female teachers and 2 male teachers). • The boys are disadvantaged by the contents of the textbooks: 3 answers (2 female teachers and 1 male teacher). • The national minorities are disadvantaged: 10 answers (8 female teachers and 2 teachers). • The religious minorities are disadvantaged: 7 answers (4 female teachers and 3 male teachers) 2.1.2 The Teacher Perception of Cross-gender Teacher/Student Relations in the Evaluation

Process a. 138 teachers do not perceive cross-gender teacher/student relations as conducive of discrimination (58 are female teachers, 22 male teachers, 5 did not state their gender; 85 of the questioned subjects did not answer this question). 53 teachers stated explicitly that there was no disadvantaging in the evaluation process. b. 38 teachers believe that either category, or even both are disadvantaged. They fall into the following categories: • 24 subjects (23 female teachers and 1 male teacher) reckon that male teachers disadvantage girls. • 7 subjects (5 female teachers and 2 male teachers) think that female teachers disadvantage boys. • 7 subjects (5 female teachers and 2 male teachers) answered that both categories are disadvantaged. (see Charts 6 and 7). According to the level of education where the teachers work, we found the following results: • 24 in primary education. • 9 in lower secondary education • 5 in upper secondary education (see Chart 8). 2.2. Data Collected from the Application of the Questionnaire on the Student Population

The inquiry into the gender dimension of Romanian education was made on 309 students ranging from Grade V to Grade XII (i.e. from the first grade in the lower secondary school to the last grade in the upper secondary school). Out of 309 respondents: • 182 are girls • 116 are boys • 11 did not specify their gender. 2.2.1. Students’ Perceptions of the Gender Dimension of the Schools’ Curricula This question aimed at identifying students’ perceptions of a gender bias in the school curricula; however, most of the answers did not reflect a perception of a gender dimension in the contents of the school subjects (see Chart 9). a. 233 questioned students think that the school curricula advantage neither boys nor girls. Out of them 129 are girls, 95 are boys, and 9 who did not identify their gender. b. 76 subjects think that there is discrimination. Their answers fall into the following categories: • The contents of school curricula advantage girls: 63 students (48 girls, 13 boys, and 2 who did not identify their gender). • The contents of school curricula advantage boys: 13 students (5 girls, 8 boys). 2.2.2. Students’ Perceptions of the Marking/Grading of the Girls and Boys a. The number of students who answer that in the evaluation process neither boys nor girls receive special treatment in marking/grading is very close to the number of students who do not perceive a gender dimension in the contents of the school subjects. 233 questioned students do not identify a gender dimension in the curricula, and 239 do not think that boys or girls are advantaged when being marked/graded in the classroom. The latter category consists of 155 girls, 76 boys, and 8 who did not specify their gender. b. 69 students consider that there are differences in marking/grading.

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! 56 answered that girls are usually advantaged when marked/graded. (18 girls, 33 boys, and 3 who did not identify their gender) ! 13 students answered that boys are advantaged when being marked/graded (7 girls and 6 boys).2 (see Chart 10). 2.2.3. The Students’ Perceptions of the Contributions of the Relations of Male Teachers -

Schoolgirls, Female Teachers - Schoolboys, Male Teachers - Schoolboys, Female Teachers - Schoolgirls in the Marking/ Grading Process

a. Most of the answers on the classroom evaluation process on the above-mentioned dimensions focus on choice: “I did not notice any such bias in marking.” This answer was given by 247 students, of whom there were 159 girls, 81 boys, and 6 who did not specify their gender. b. 62 subjects consider that gender constitutes an advantage when students are marked in school. • Male teachers advantage girls in marking - was the answer of 30 subjects (19 boys, 9 girls, 2 who did not specify gender). • Female teachers advantage girls in marking - was the answer of 24 subjects (6 girls, 16 boys, 2 who did not specify gender). • Female teachers advantage boys - answered 3 girls. • Male teachers advantage boys - answered 5 students (4 girls and 1 boy). • (see Chart 11) 2.2.4. Student Perceptions of the Relation between Gender and Teaching Competence.

Are Female or Male Teachers Preferred? a. Most of the answers to this question reflect the fact that there is no determination relation perceived between the variable teaching competence and the variable of gender in the education process. Out of a total of 309 questioned students, 217 chose: The sex of the teachers is not important in this issue. The answers are distributed as follows: 138 girls, 72 boys, 7 who did not specify gender. b. 91 subjects believe that a greater number of female/male teachers is preferable in the teaching process. • It would be better if the number of female teachers were greater than the number of male teachers - was the answer of 57 subjects (27 girls, 30 boys). • It would be better if the number of male teacher were greater than the number of female teachers - was the answer of 34 subjects (16 girls, 14 boys, 4 subjects who did not identify their gender)3 (see Chart 12). 2.2.5. Are Girls More Intelligent than Boys? The answers to this question are no longer mostly of the type “neither-nor” (compared with the answers from the other question). There are two major types of answers to this question. a. 145 subjects consider that: One can not say that boys are more intelligent than girls. (89 girls, 51 boys, 5 who did not specify gender). b. 160 subjects do think that boys and girls differ in this respect: • 103 answered that girls are more intelligent than boys in classroom activities (77 girls, 22 boys, 4 who did not specify gender). • 57 answered that boys are more intelligent than girls are (14 girls, 42 boys, 1 who does not specify gender).4 (see Chart 13) The motivation for including this option in the survey will be discussed further on, when interpreting the data.

2 One of the questionnaires was filled in improperly by one subject, who chose both 2a and 2c. The alternatives are contradictory, which is why this answer is void. 3 One questionnaire does not have an answer to this question. 4 4 subjects did not mark any of the choices.


2.2.6. Do the Girls in Your Grade Usually Get Higher Marks than the Boys? a. 208 affirmative answers were registered for this question (136 girls, 61 boys, 11 who did not identify their gender). b. 68 subjects answered that boys obtained higher marks than girls (26 girls, 42 boys). c. 34 subjects (19 girls, 13 boys) marked the choice: “I do not know/I do not answer.” (see Chart 14) 2.2.7. May Girls Chose Any Career in your Opinion? a. 201 students answered affirmatively to this question, stating that girls’ performances may be equal to boys’. The answers are distributed as follows: 136 girls, 59 boys, 6 who did not specify gender. b. 108 students consider that girls may not choose the same careers as boys. The arguments range as follows: • 43 students support their answers by mentioning girls’ physical abilities (22 girls, 18 boys, 3 who did not specify their gender). • 23 students account for girls’ both physical and intellectual abilities (2 girls, 21 boys). • 42 subjects answer that one can not speak about equality between girls and boys, as there are specific careers for girls (see Chart 15). 3. Interpretation of the Data

The answers given by teachers may lead one to think that the gender dimension bears no influence whatsoever on the teaching activities and the student-teacher relationships. Most of the answers seem blind as to any possible gender bias in the curriculum, the evaluation process, or the gender composition of teaching staff. It seems as if everyone endeavors to answer in the classroom as if no one is either male or female. The textbooks are also gender blind: they neither advantage nor disadvantage either of the sexes. The extracurricular activities organized with boys and with girls seem to correspond to an inner specificity, as girls and boys are different. The relationships between students and teachers also have no gender dimension, as if the teachers addressed a neuter audience as neuter persons themselves. As a consequence, most of the teachers reckon that as long as professional ethics are complied with, the gender of the person behind the teacher’s desk, or in students’ desks, bears no relevance.

As the topic is relatively new on the academic agenda, however, we must not give too much credit to the sociological data. We do believe that it would be most beneficial to analyze those answers which deny the general opinion that school is an environment beyond the influence of gender.

We should therefore try to see what meaning may lie behind the answers that do not comfort our conscience.

How might it be possible that schools would be beyond any influence of gender? In answering it is helpful to look at teachers’ answers, so that we may attempt to perceive potential differences in how they teach.

25 teachers stated that textbooks disadvantage certain categories of students, mainly girls and national and religious minorities, but boys as well. This is a very significant fact, as in formulating the optional choices for the answers many criteria were used, so that, in reality the categories are cumulated. Some teachers noted that and consequently chose many variants. Any person belonging to a minority (be it an ethnic or a religious one) is also either a boy or a girl.

The majority of teachers do not consider that textbooks involve gender prejudices and do not contain discriminatory messages. Their usual reactions are: “What do you expect? The relativity theory (or gravitational force, or boiling temperature…) does not depend on students’ sex.” The justification of the gender blind approach of those teachers have to be connected with the content of curricula which avoid to focus on daily private and public experiences. Also, this approach has to be related with the learning theories that teachers follow, what they appreciate as important in the evaluation process and the sort of behavior they encourage in the classroom.

It is useful now to focus our discussion on students’ opinions. The curricula do not seem to disadvantage any category - at least this is what most students stated. On the other hand 76 students answer in the affirmative: yes, the textbooks disadvantage. Whom? Rather girls (as stated by female students), or rather boys (in male students’ opinion).

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Leaving aside the way in which students perceive the structure of the disadvantaged category, it is still significant that 24.67% of the students questioned have the feeling that somehow there is discrimination, while the teachers consider that there is no such discrimination.

When students were asked about differentiation in the marking process, approximately the same percentage of students (77.35%) as of teachers (78.41%) thought that students are not disadvantaged when the teacher is of the opposite sex.

The perception of gender differentiation in marking does exist, however, for many students. Most of them think of the girls as being advantaged. Also, the gender of the teacher is a relevant factor for them in marking. 20% of these students think that girls are advantaged in either situation (the teacher is female or male). It seems that motivation is different: • Male teachers advantage them for their appearance. • Female teachers advantage them for being hardworking, more sensitive, obedient.

The most striking conclusion to be drawn from this is that a faulty image on the evaluation process exists. It seems to be either a punishment or a reward. It is a punishment for those who are not obedient and serious. Sometimes, depending on the gender of the student, forgiveness may occur (mainly in favor of the boys, as they usually are more undisciplined). Many times, depending on the gender involved, pity may also occur. The female student is forgiven and therefore a bad mark is not registered in the student’s record. There are softhearted and hardhearted markings. These may be influenced by the discipline in the classroom.

The error here is to reduce the evaluation process to marking, with the mark being transformed into a disciplining instrument for those who dare not to comply with the usual conformity.

If the evaluation were focused on measuring the students abilities, if enough exercises were done in the classroom in order to develop these abilities, and mainly if the system of unannounced tests were canceled (those tests given on a whim by the teachers, to ‘catch’ the student unprepared) then, and only then, would the producing of unjust and unintended effects be avoided. One arbitrary mark can strongly influence the next school level of the student. Such arbitrariness should especially be limited, when one considers that now the average mark obtained in lower secondary school is an evaluative factor when applying to upper secondary schools, just as the average grade in upper secondary school is taken into consideration when applying to universities.

The students’ answers seem to outline a person rather quiet than active, rather obedient and submissive than driven by initiative, and rather sensitive, disciplined, and thorough-going than assertive or creative (that is, more of the ‘feminine’ model).

That evaluation is perceived as a punishment is supported by the fact that of the 91 students who consider that there should be more female or male teachers, 62 (64%) want more female teachers. The boys mainly preferred this option. Irrespective of their choice, the motivation is similar for boys and girls: • They want female teachers not only because they are more understanding, more tolerant, nicer, patient, milder, and they do not beat students, but also because they are not so demanding. Those who prefer male teachers stated that they are more tolerant, calmer and delicate. • They reject men because they are bad, tough and authoritarian, they beat students and also they are more demanding.

Evaluation seems to be a sort of stress-relief activity for teachers. Why do girls get higher marks than boys? Just because they are more submissive and hardworking. Sometimes it is the boys who get higher marks, just because their number in the classroom is lower and, according to the answers given by the students (mostly girls), they are treated as a helpless minority and they have to be protected.

The student image/conception of intelligence is one of the negative consequences of this distorted perception. Are girls more intelligent than the boys, or vice versa? This time, in the students’ perception, differences do exist. Some of them are more intelligent than others. The girls consider themselves to be more intelligent than the boys (74.75% of the total, of those who believe that girls are more intelligent, are girls), and the boys consider themselves to be more intelligent (73.68% of the total, of those who believe that boys are more intelligent, are boys). The explanations are quite similar. An intelligent person is not one who solves problems easily, but one who:


• Learns more, endeavors more, is more thorough, more hardworking. • Does not watch TV, does not play, is well behaved, is not noisy or absent minded. • Is a more mature person -- both physically and emotionally more developed. • Learns fast in the classroom, so s/he learns less at home. • Is more ambitious, preoccupied with her/his future.

A high mark is taken as proof of intelligence, as well as getting into the final stages of the student contest, the National Olympics for Students. And, although each category considers itself more intelligent than the other, it seems natural to students that any of them could embrace any career (65%).

Teachers perceive students’ possible career tracks otherwise. In asking teachers what sort of career they would recommend for boys/girls, the researchers assumed that they would recommend different careers. Indeed, 76.70% of the teachers made recommendations that took it for granted that a differentiation should exist. (see Chart 16) As the categories of girls and boys are considered generally, no genderless justification can be found. Therefore, the recommendations were strongly differentiated (see Appendix 3/Tables 1-3). • There are careers only for boys: broker, finance worker, software and hardware specialist, politician, theologian, architect, mechanic, pilot, sportsman, stuntman, officer, guardian. • There are careers only for girls: nurse, social assistant, hair-dresser, air hostess, designer, secretary, librarian, interpreter, model, public servant, accountant, psychologist, baby-sitter. • The correlation between careers for girls and boys (in this order): manager’s assistant - manager, PC operator - soft/hardware expert, pre-school or primary school teacher - secondary or post-secondary teacher, pediatrician - surgeon. • Careers recommended both for girls and boys: cook, pastry-cook.

Such an approach is obviously discriminatory. When asked what activities they would organize only with girls or only with boys (see Chart 17) — it having also been assumed that they agreed with the differentiation, if they gave examples — we see that 75% of the teachers would organize such activities. These answers do not match the recommendations made when asked about careers (see Chart 18).

The most significant disagreement is between the teachers’ recommendation for careers suitable to girls (centered mainly on passive, uncreative vocations, involving caring for the helpless, or based upon routine activities or physical appearance) and the girls’ thoughts on this matter. 74.70% of the students who consider that girls may choose any career are the girls themselves. Therefore it is the girls’ opinion that they might chose any profession/vocation, while their teachers (mostly women) lead them to certain mainly uncreative domains. Why is that? It is our supposition that the female teachers, themselves, consider girls to be weak and helpless, and more exposed to violence (be it physical or just symbolic) in social life. Maybe they want them to be protected as well, centered on and limited to the private sphere, or the non-aggressive side of public life, the softer one where no decision-making or responsibility-taking occurs.

135 teachers made 117 recommendations of separate activities for girls and 104 for boys. The content of the recommendations is: a) Activities for girls would be: dress making, knitting, housekeeping, sexual education and

child-rearing activities, activities centered on classroom cleaning, gardening or caring for their own body (as it would be useful in childbearing).

b) Activities for boys involve force, initiative, volition, technical and software training, and preparing to become “a real man” (in the traditional meaning of manhood). Following the logic of these teachers’ recommendations, none of the girls ought to be

recommended to embrace a military career, although many girls would want to become pilots, military judges or even police workers.

Why does school promote such models? Bourdieu (1998) considers school to be an element in the conservation of the structures of male dominance, such as are the Church and the State. The arguments of this well-known sociologist are valid for the present state of Romanian education.

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Experts and officials in the Ministry of Education constitute a special category of persons surveyed. Among them are decision-makers in the ministry who consider the usefulness of various education policy suggestions, persons who may take local decisions, respectively Deputy Inspector Generals responsible for implementing reforms at county level, as well as Inspectors responsible for primary education.

The first category of experts assumed that the gender dimension is detectable mainly at the level of interpersonal relationships, rather than the level of curriculum. We therefore decided to address our questions to the county inspectors who do not formulate education policy but apply them (see Appendix 2/Map 1). The inspectors were asked if there was a gender dimension in the education process, and if the answer was ’yes,’ to give an example.

Their answers fall into the following categories (see Chart 19): • There is no gender dimension in education (76.74%). • There is such a dimension (23.26% of the persons interviewed all being women, except one) (see Chart 19).

The persons considering that education is gender dimensioned gave irrelevant answers, proving that in fact they did not understand the question. The gender dimension is not perceivable by teachers? Why? In order to find out the reasons for this we took into consideration the contents of the initial training process for teachers.

The research we undertook on several elements of the initial teacher training attempt to answer the following question: In the context of the ongoing reform of Romanian primary and secondary education, are the future teachers in primary education prepared for a gender sensitive education?

The initial training of teachers is circumscribed rather to a model of reactive education -- this had been our working hypothesis, and unfortunately it was confirmed at the end of our research. The teacher training in upper secondary schools and colleges educates pre-school and primary school teachers to be able and predisposed to maintain the cultural norms (including those of gender), rather than “(gender) norm breakers,” with a conservative role, not an emancipating one. The graduates of these institutions are encouraged to reproduce behaviors, mentalities and gender stereotypes, and not to imagine and try to induce changes at these levels. In the curricula of the teacher training modules in the faculties and universities there is no specific course of lectures, or even a topic, addressing the gender perspective in teacher training.

Under these circumstances, we directed our attention to the initial training of primary school teachers as their education process is longer (5 years in upper secondary teacher training schools and 3 years in short–term, higher education institutions). 4. Interpretation of the Materials

Having collected the research materials and necessary information, we pursued our research by means of content analysis, from a gender perspective, applied to school papers and specific materials: education plans, textbooks, school counseling materials. 4.1. Education Plans

We started our research by analyzing some education plans. (MEN 1999a) We consider them relevant for assessing gender issues in the education process, as they are being considered in the reform of the Romanian primary and secondary education. One can identify a certain philosophy of education within this structure, in that one can identify initial teacher training that is either reactive or pro-active, in terms of its approach to gender issues in education.

The general concept of education reflected in this first instrument of the curriculum is highly relevant for the beginning of any content analysis. Moreover, when one speaks of the structure of a new form of education, such as the 3-year teacher training college, the analysis of the education plan is even more significant. It reflects the way in which the reform of the teacher training was conceived.

One of our first preliminary conclusions is that there is no significant difference between the analyzed education plans. We will therefore discuss just one of them in detail -- the one belonging to the teacher training college in Bucharest.


From the start, one can not help but notice that the plan is excessively theoretical. One can not find any of the specific problems of the individual taken as a particular human being (differentiated according to sex, age, social environment, and ethnicity), or the problems and perspectives which will be brought by the new millennium. It is no wonder then that there is a lack of any gender related issues. There is no concern for civic education, either, although special textbooks on civic education at the level of lower and upper secondary schools have been introduced; and therefore there is a real need to train future teachers to deal with these topics and texts. Furthermore, there is no concern for developing the skills necessary in interrelationships, in identifying and being aware of differences and similarities between persons, as well as their consequences at the social or personal levels.

The curricular topics are remarkably narrowly conceived and poor in diversity. The compulsory subjects are strictly limited to those studied in primary school.

The range of optional subjects reflects a narrow-minded conception and a lack of pedagogical pragmatism. In the first year of study, a foreign language is one of the optional subjects, together with one of the following: philosophy, ethics/esthetics, sociology and economics. In the second year the optional offer is: school hygiene, psycho-pedagogy of playing, choir singing, and an open course, while in the third year courses on school management, social pedagogy, and child assistance and protection, are offered as optional. Therefore, in the first year students deal with traditional subjects, with tangential relevance from gender perspective. For the second year subjects, there are some courses with a gender potential. For example, we can speak about school hygiene only from a gender perspective. As for the psycho-pedagogy of playing we can imply a very rich gender potential: the girls and boys who will be taught by these future teachers will play differently and separately from each other, meaning that they will be socialized for specific games according to their sex. Playing a game could change mentalities and attitudes, including those touching upon gender. In order to fulfill this subject’s potential for heightening gender sensitivity, the teaching materials should deal with these issues, and those teaching it should have a minimum level of knowledge in the field as well as gender sensitivity themselves. When looking at the textbook, however, one can not help but notice that it is gender blind, and abstractly theoretical. The teacher training in this field is also non-existent (the historical, cultural reasons for this fact do not constitute the object of this research).

In the third year the optional courses of social pedagogy are still gender-silent. They do not address the issues of gender differences in the education process, while the knowledge related to “child protection and assistance” is focused on a non-gendered child, both girl and boy, i.e. neither girl nor boy. The information and the models of assistance and protection are useful but not individualized.

Also the specialization modules do not address the methodology of the educational aspects which might include a gender perspective: phonetics, lexicology, the history of English literature or applied linguistics are also taught irrespective of a possible gender perspective. The pedagogical practical periods might offer a training framework for future teachers also from the perspective of gender, ethnicity, social class, and religious inclination. 4.2. Textbooks for Pedagogical Upper Secondary Schools

The content analysis of the textbooks included the following works: • Children’s Literature, textbook for the 13th Grade in upper secondary teacher training schools (coordinator O. Costea), Pedagogic Publishing House, RA, 1999. • The Theory of Education and Basics of Pedagogical Research, textbook for the 11th Grade in upper secondary teacher training schools, by Ioan Nicola, Dominca Farcas, Ministry of National Education, RA, 1999.

Also the textbook for teaching the Romanian language was chosen, because it represents the fundamental subject in primary education – it enjoys an explicitly higher status among teachers and parents, has precise goals, and many classes are taught per week. Children’s literature is a powerful socialization agent in childhood, with a specific gender dimension, which is very often unbalanced in the direction of gender conservatism. The textbook on children’s literature centers on the pedagogical aspects of initial teacher training. The textbook on the theory of education was selected because it addresses the pedagogical aspects of the initial training of the future teachers which is the main subject of our research. The content analysis focused on the type of gender messages conveyed by:

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• the authors • the table of contents • bibliographical references • characters and roles • messages of the proposed literary work, as well as messages conveyed by the comments on the work proposed by the author.

Following a close analysis, we can state that the textbooks are conservative from the perspective of the gender issues approaches and messages. Also: • the textbooks were written only by women • the authors proposed for study are all men (though, as suggested in the bibliography, there are well-known and loved female authors) • the number of male characters is twice as great as the number of female characters • the number of the active parts played by male characters is six times greater than the active parts played by female characters • the gender messages in the texts are mainly traditional and stereotypical. There are very few messages that are counter-stereotypical (only three).

The messages conveyed by the authors’ comments are usually abstract, only a few of them (3) bearing gender relevance. 4.3. Materials for School Counseling Classes in Pedagogical Upper Secondary Schools The following teaching materials were selected for analysis: • Ministry of National Education’s Recommendations for Topics to be Discussed in School Counseling Courses for the 13th Grade in Pedagogical Upper Secondary School, Bucharest, 1999-2000 (MEN 1999b). • Guidelines for School and Career Counseling, by Vasile Ghica, 1998, Bucharest, Polirom.

Taking into consideration the fact that the gender dimension is under-represented in textbooks, we considered that the counseling courses could offer the possibility to approach the gender issues. The themes to be discussed should address the specific needs of the people trained in such schools, and also offer models for organizing such activities with pupils.

The proposed themes and recommendations, as well as the education plans, are deficient: the topics are too general, the theoretical aspects still prevail, while the development of analytical capacities are not oriented towards practical implementation in the ordinary life of an individual. There is no suggestion, whatsoever, of a possible gender issue.

It has become obvious that the fundamental school activities do not deal with gender problems, in the least. The general conception is very restricted and narrow-minded, taking into consideration that the teacher is granted the freedom of choosing.

When looking at the themes we could identify a first category as “pedantic,” having no direct connection with Romanian private or public reality, such as: • “The New Age Movement and its Goals” • “From God's Command to Fatality: the Islamic Jihad” • “The Features of Modern Society: Bellum omnium contra omnes” • “The Religious and Political Extremism in Contemporary Society” • “The Contemporary Human Being and Her/His Freedom” • “The Closing Opening: The Present Gap between Results and Expectations” • “Following the Pharaohs: The World Seen from the Cheops Pyramid.”

As we can see, the range of themes is broad and they pertain to contemporary society or general knowledge (which is not at all a bad thing), but considering the context, or curricular offering, the themes are out of place, as they might be addressed in some special courses devoted to contemporary culture and civilization, rather than in school counseling classes.

The second category of themes are more practical, oriented to the needs of the future teacher. They deal mostly with the concrete activities that the future graduate is supposed to undertake: teaching children aged 6-14, understanding them, knowing them. Such themes are:


• “The Rational Organization of Time” • “Effective Learning Strategies” • “Self Confidence” • ‘The Emotional Equilibrium - A Catalyst of Unwanted Happenings” • ‘When and How We Take a Stand?”

These are suggestions rich in gender issues that could be addressed, if the teacher is aware of them or is willing to do it. But the potentiality is not enough. We can assert that teachers still do not have ‘gender expertise’ and, therefore, the gender potential of the above themes will not be taken into consideration.

Although scorned in most of the education reform papers and materials, the ideal of encyclopedic knowledge seems to be the main objective of the school counseling courses. It is a symptomatic phenomenon not limited to the proposed themes mentioned in this single book. When reading Guidelines for School and Professional Counseling, by Vasile Ghica, we again encounter the same distance from the private dimension of an individual’s life, as it has been displaced by an orientation towards general knowledge: • “Love and Romance” • “Art and Culture” • “Freedom, Laws, Democracy” • “At the Millennium Crossroads”

The very few concrete themes do not relate to the individual’s institutional or personal life: they deal with UFOs, horoscopes, the Internet or even the Romanian Scouts.

Having studied the discussed research evidence, papers, and books, we have reached the following conclusions: 1. In terms of the researched papers we can easily speak about gender blindness as a form of

curricular sexism, manifested as follows: • There is no explicit printed space allocated to these issues (we could identify neither titles nor

messages referring explicitly to gender issues). • Indifference to the problem (at the level of language). In some other textbooks for the initial

teacher training we can find specific sexist examples. Therefore we could call this type ‘basic invisibility.’

2. The level of gender blindness is so high that other aspects of sexism in the analyzed results are less visible on a first reading (i.e. stereotyping, selection and unbalanced reflection of the reality, fragmentation and isolation).

3. Training primary school teachers to be aware of gender issues is not a permanent feature of their initial training. If several courses implicitly approach issues related to sexism, gender discrimination, equal opportunities, etc. it only occurs accidentally. The curricular objectives do not include such issues (Grunberg & Miriou 1997).

4. There are some gender potentialities at the level of teaching materials for teacher training, but they are not used in an adequate way, due the “gender-blindness” of the teaching staff and their lack of gender consciousness.

5. The future teacher in primary education is neither helped to develop a gender sensitivity nor offered a minimum level of knowledge in order to know how to address these issues. It is a closed circle, as the teachers who train the prospective teachers do not themselves have such a sensitivity and knowledge (Grunberg 1997).

6. Having graduated from predominantly female institutions, the female graduates of the teacher training colleges, and upper secondary schools, start their careers with a major handicap in dealing with gender issues in the classroom. Both their own experience and the gender socialization of the schoolgirls and schoolboys are distorted. The chances are that they should behave stereotypically: promoting a more friendly learning environment for girls (whom they know better, and for whom they can be more empathic); expecting higher performances from boys in mathematics and technical sciences, and from girls in the humanities; mixing the seating of girls and boys at their desks (in Romania, the desks are usually shared by 2

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pupils/students in primary and secondary education); helping mainly the girls in answering; and reprimanding and punishing arbitrarily; etc.

7. The cumulative effects of ignoring gender issues in the curriculum, education plans, and teaching materials are dangerous, as they could produce unintended effects upon marginalized groups, perpetuating prejudices that operate as self-fulfilling prophecies. They generally reproduce a cultural model saturated with prejudices and sexist attitudes (many of which are implicit and less visible, but nevertheless harmful) (Grunberg & Miroiu 1997, Grunberg 1999).

8. In sum, at the level of teacher training, an educational model is proposed and promoted that is reactive in terms of gender issues. It is centered on survival. “To be just like everybody else” - i.e. to learn quietly, submissively, and in an uncritical manner, the gender stereotypes and ideologies - this seems to be the main educational message concerning the gender issues in the initial teacher training.

9. One can notice a major gap between the objectives of reform and the modalities and instruments available to implement them. The textbooks we encountered in this research are not helpful in training teachers to be sympathetic to the social, cultural, religious and economic diversity of people in contemporary societies; teachers who should be able to deal with problems of specific categories of people; teachers not only able to reproduce the gender norms and rules but to challenge and change them.

10. These analyses seem to indicate that the female graduates of teacher training schools and colleges, considering the training they receive, are likely to practice (although unintentionally) a symbolic gender violence. All these things happen in the formally declared environment of reform, aiming at “the elaboration of a new curricular culture, so that the education process is to be focused on competence and skill training, on placing the pupil/student right in the heart of the educational activities” (Korka 1999 – translation by present author).

5. Gender Policies in Education 5.1. Opportunities to Introduce Gender Policies in Education 5.1.1. The Political Context is Favorable

The education system is being thoroughly reformed; of all the government agencies, the Ministry of National Education registered the most advanced level of implementing the aquis communautaire. The degree of openness towards change is at its peak, at least for the institutions coordinating the reform of education. 5.1.2. Changing Gender Policy in Education is a Process The introduction of such policies can not be realized through direct action; rather, realizing such change demands a gradual process. It involves a long-term strategy, as it envisages changes in many departments of the teacher training, curricula contents and textbooks. 5.1.3. The Visibly Conservative Character of the Present Day Gender Approaches in Education can be De-legitimized We can highlight such obviously conservative processes as: • the preponderance of females at the base, and males at the top of the education system, • the absence of education for private and family life, (see the meaning of the private-public distinction in Landes (1998). • the gender segregation in creating manual skills for boys and girls, • the weak participation of women in public life, • the maintenance of old-fashioned myths of masculinity and femininity in the textbooks’ texts and illustrations.

It is highly important to present these processes as educational issues of major significance and to generate pressures for change.


5.2. Obstacles to Realizing Gender Emancipating Educational Policies 5.2.1. The Theoretical Resistance and the Cognitive Dissonance of the Teaching Staff

The people who conceived the curricula and the education plans at the level of upper secondary teacher training schools could resist curricular changes. Due to the institutionalized routine, their conservative tendencies are more evident. Nevertheless, the students usually adapt themselves to a new curriculum without problems. A similar reaction could happen to those teaching and organizing the pedagogical module courses in faculties (Training Departments for the Teaching Staff). 5.2.2. Conservatism and Gender Blindness

Politicians, officials and NGOs would have to accept the gender perspective as a central one, in order to put gender equality in education on the political agenda and ultimately change the legislation. For the moment, it seems that the politicians are not very open-minded with respect to the issue of equal opportunities. We can only expect them to react to the pressures coming from international institutions or from their own electorate, giving voice to their parental concerns. The electorate is not, however, very aware of gender discrimination in education as an issue needing to be addressed. 5.2.3. Legal Impediments

The education law is an “organic” law.5 Education that concerns private and family life or the gender partnership for professional and public life are not among its objectives. We expect insufficient political will for the modification of the educational objectives of the present law. University autonomy allows each department that is involved in teacher training to formulate its own curricular policy that can freely ignore the gender dimension. 5.2.4. The Costs of Implementing Gender Awareness Educational Policies

A gender awareness educational policy requires expertise, research, information and learning, in the process of further training the teaching staff. That means funding from the Ministry of National Education, which has limited resources for further teacher training and training for implementing the reform. 5.2.5. “Unfavorable” Consequences

The modification of the evaluation criteria and the contents of the curricula might appear as an attack against the accepted traditional values, and might be perceived as a process of undermining male authority, of feminizing men or masculinizing women. 5.3. Potential Allies in the Education for Gender Emancipation 5.3.1. The Ministry of National Education

The MNE is the strategic institutional actor in terms of reform; it has the necessary power and resources for investments in curricular changes, imposing the reform criteria, normative changes, and salary policies. The Ministry is now very open to structural changes. 5.3.2. The Institute for Education Sciences

The Institute has the capacity to be deeply involved in the formulation of education policies; it has personnel well trained for reform. It is very perceptive in terms of the relationships between the universities, NGOs and School Inspectorates. It has female research fellows who are, or might become, sensitive to the issue of equal opportunities in education. 5.3.3. School Inspectorates and the County Teacher Training Houses

The School Inspectorates have an important role in promoting teacher training, assessing the teaching staff, selecting education managers and furnishing databases on gender structure. The

5 The Romanian legal system is built on the French model. By “organic law” – which is the correct term used in our legislation - we mean a law adopted by at least two thirds of the MPs because it is fundamental for the functioning of the state.

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Teacher Training Houses are institutions with an important role in continuous teacher training (Barzea 1999). 5.3.4. Universities

There are several universities in Romania where gender studies are institutionalized in the form of courses, or even MA programs of study: The Babes Bolyai University - Cluj, The West University – Timisoara, The University of Bucharest, The National School of Political Studies and Public Administration - Bucharest. The Iasi and Oradea Universities are in the process of introducing such programs. Each of the above-mentioned could become sources of research and planning for gender awareness education policies. 5.3.5. Independent Gender Research and Education Centers

The Society for Feminist Analyses AnA (Societatea de Analize Feministe Ana), Gender and the Center for Curricular Development and Gender Studies Filia (Centrul de Dezvoltare Curiculara si Studii de Gen Filia) have already offered significant expertise in the field and organized activities for the training of trainers. 5.3.6. Non-Governmental Organizations

Those NGOs that have objectives in education, human rights, social assistance, sexual education, and family planning, are the best allies for gender policies and their implementation in education. 5.3.7. Political Parties

Romanian political parties can be classified in terms of gender awareness as either conservative or reforming. The latter are those liberal parties which have a strong social dimension and the social-democratic parties. The conservative parties might support the process of gender emancipation in education, according to the principle of the right to equal and fair competition. The reforming parties might support the process in light of their equal opportunities policies, social partnership, and gender parity in democratic processes. 5.4. The Objectives of Gender Policies in Education Short-term Objectives: • The elimination of gender discrimination in educational practices (in sports, sexual education, practical workshop activities as well as hand-work classes, in school and career counseling). • The sanctioning of the persons responsible for blocking the access of Roma girls to secondary education and the promotion of measures which would integrate Roma girls in special classes or schools for girls. Medium-term Objectives: • The introduction of education for private and family life as an objective of the education law; • Changes in the curricula and education plans that will promote gender partnership education; • The training of primary, lower and upper secondary school teachers for the implementation of equal opportunities strategies; Long-term Objectives: • The balancing of the gender structure of the teaching staff. • The balancing of the gender structure in education administration. • Androgynous practice in education. • Gender partnership education for private and family life. • The elimination of latent discrimination, and of potentially sexist practices and approaches in the teacher training process.


5.5. The Content of Gender Policies 5.5.1. Gender Awareness and the Sanctioning of Gender Discrimination in Education • The incorporation of a Gender and Education module in the curriculum of upper secondary teacher training schools, of the Departments for teacher training, or the inclusion of gender issues in the following courses: pedagogy, school psychology, sociology of education. This initiative could be realized in cooperation with the Universities that have Gender Studies courses and with the NGOs preoccupied with research and education on gender issues. • The implementation in the education institutions, by the Ministry of National Education, of the recommendations concerning the official modes of address that use the right feminine and masculine formulas, for pupils, students, and the teaching staff. • The Ministry of National Education should make a request for all gender-related data and statistics concerning pupils, students, teaching staffs, and education managers. • The promotion, under the initiative of the Ministry of National Education, of an equal opportunities campaign in the Tribuna Invatamantului (The Education Forum) magazine, and in other publications relevant for the target public. • Setting up a Department for Non-discriminatory Education in the Ministry of National Education, that will include a Commission for Non-sexist Education. The Commission will have a double role: consultation for the M.N.E., and evaluation and supervision for the structures subordinated to the Ministry. Firstly, the Commission should check if the M.N.E.’s official documents, school curricula, and textbooks have a non-discriminatory character. Secondly, the Commission should block the further dissemination of gender stereotypes and the professional differentiation of students on the basis of gender. Finally, the Commission should monitor the effective implementation of the principle of non-sexist education. • The suggestion of the creation of a Students’ Council, a school equivalent of the institution of the People’s Advocate (Ombudsman). Such an institution will address issues of equal opportunities and will cooperate with the specialized structure of the Ministry of National Education. 5.5.2. Policies Concerning the Teaching Staff: Diminishing the Preponderance of Females at

the Base and Males at the Top The teaching staff is preponderantly female at the basic level (primary and secondary

education) and male at the top level (university education and educational management). The concrete application of the reform is mostly done by women, while the conceptual and decision-making elements are mostly in the hands of men (Miroiu 1998).

There are several measures that have to be considered in terms of correcting gender disparities, for balancing the professional offering and the psychological influence of gender-models of the persons involved in the education process: a) Measures should be adopted for increasing the number of men and decreasing the number of women teaching in primary and secondary schools; b) The Ministry of National Education should actively propagate the above-mentioned policy, with a view to attracting young men into teaching careers in pre-school, primary and secondary education; c) The introduction of a “Numerus clausus” of a minimum of 40% for boys or girls in admissions to upper secondary teaching training colleges; d) Changes in the salary policy of the M.N.E., in order to make teaching positions in primary and secondary education more attractive; e) In order to increase the presence of women at the top of the decision-making pyramid, there should be a promotions policy advancing women into decision-making positions at the level of schools, School Inspectorates, and departments of the M.N.E. (The data confirming the gender disparities in the structure of the teaching staff can be found in the book Femeile si barbatii din Romania (The Men and Women of Romania) edited by the National Commission of Statistics and the UNDP)

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5.5.3. Policies for a Balanced Access to Education (to Counterbalance the Preponderance of Women Admitted to Higher Education and of Men Admitted to Vocational and Technical Education) The data furnished by the National Commission for Statistics (1999:236-269) and UNDP

(2000:35-42) confirms the results of our research. The numbers are decreasing, both in terms of the boys enrolled in the upper secondary, college and university education institutions and the girls in primary and vocational education. There is also a slight gender imbalance in favor of the girls, concerning the percentage who graduate. This phenomenon might intensify with the generalization of admissions on the basis of lower secondary graduation certificates (capacity certificate), upper secondary graduation certificates (baccalaureate), and the average marks in subjects studied in upper secondary schools.

In consequence, our proposals are: • the investigation of the causes of these phenomena; • the creation of a school climate with a higher integrating potential for boys; • the reconsideration of the evaluation forms (see below); • the introduction of gender preferential policies in the educational institutions in which the imbalances tend to rise significantly (see the vocational and technical education for girls, upper secondary and university education for boys – especially in the social sciences and humanities, economics, medicine, and pharmaceutical studies). 5.5.4. Dealing with Students: Directions for an Androgynous Education Policy • Focusing on the positive features of the girls’ and boys’ cultures: the girls should enhance their positive masculine features, and similarly, the boys should enhance their positive feminine features. The boys should be encouraged to undertake care-giving activities and the girls competition and leadership training. • The elimination of gender discrimination in evaluation, and school and career counseling; the eradication of symbolic violence and all forms of sexism against pupils and students; • Confronting the cultural pressures which the boys face (pressures to conform to a model of masculinity tied to aggression, status, and earnings), and the creation of alternative strategies to encourage them to reconsider their interest in the family and caring for others. It should be insisted upon that the education of boys also consider the ethics of care and responsibility, and of justice in the family. • Confronting the cultural pressures faced by girls: pressures towards femininity, understood as dependency, protection and weakness; towards the use of their body for illegal earnings; towards accepted anonymity and sole responsibility for the household and child rearing. It should be insisted upon that there be more in the education of girls in the spirit of the ethics of rights, justice, self-development, and self-assertion. • The rejection of the boys’ and teaching staff’s prejudices that boys are more intelligent than girls, as well as of the stereotypes that girls get better results due to their attitudinal superiority (responsibility, submissiveness, obedience). The positive features should be developed in both sexes. 5.5.5. Non-sexist Strategies of Evaluation • For effectively opposing the gender imbalances, the evaluation process should measure the ability to use the learning outcomes in different contexts: #### the measurement of the students’ ability to perform complex assignments; #### the revocation of unannounced tests, especially the ones of a punitive character; #### the diminution of the homework load in favor of greater evaluation of activities performed in the classroom; #### the respect for justice and merit as central values in comparing students’ school behavior; #### the appreciation of initiative. • The mark for “Good Behavior” should be replaced by an evaluation of behavior based on criteria other than conformity, discipline, or school attendance. The evaluation should also consider


communication skills, empathy, care for others, involvement in community activities, and working in teams. • Raising awareness to the behavioral characteristics of teachers, in terms of gender, apparent in the evaluation process. 5.5.6. Curricular Policies: The Elimination of the “Hidden Curriculum” that Promotes Gender

Conservatism, and the Creation of a Curriculum Oriented towards Mutual Appreciation and Partnership Education As gender stereotypes are explicitly promoted through textbooks, and implicitly through

curriculum and education plans, the following policies are desirable: • The inclusion of non-sexist education as a curricular objective; • The elaboration of a non-sexist education guide for the authors of curricula, education plans and textbooks (with themes, illustrations, and pictures, enhancing women’s contribution to culture, using models of women’s professional achievement, and also men’s models of equal involvement in private and family life and partnership in public life); • The formulation and enforcement of gender correctness standards for publishing houses printing textbooks. • The initiation of the students from upper secondary teaching training colleges, and those attending the courses of teachers training departments, in gender topics, as well as the implementation of communication and evaluation strategies that encourage androgynous education. • The planning of practical, skills development activities that could stimulate technical abilities in girls and household abilities in boys; • The themes of school counseling courses must include mainly topics on gender, age characteristics, community involvement, and the real social needs of the students. 5.5.7. Education for Gender Partnership in Private and Family Life

The Ministry of National Education must initiate the modification of the Education Act so that the promotion of the gender partnership and education for private and family life should be educational objectives. If the law were to include such objectives, it would become part of any subject that might have such a component, including the “sciences.”

Any school curricula of a subject should be formulated so that it explicitly includes themes on education for private and family life. We recommend the inclusion of the following themes in the school curricula of various subjects: a) Biology: themes on ecology and the protection of the environment. b) Anatomy: themes on pathology, illness prevention, healthy alimentation, hygiene, sex education and family planning, birth, abortion and contraception. c) Physics and Technology: themes on the operating of home appliances, including the possible risks of their improper use. d) Chemistry: themes on the use of chemical substances in daily life, and the risks implied by their use, including drug abuse. This would call for an interdisciplinary approach drawing upon the disciplines of chemistry, anatomy, and civic education. e) History: themes on the history of private and family life and life styles, with a specific accent on the local community. f) Physical education: themes on pregnancy, and more specifically on exercises that are to be used during pregnancy for easing labor; learning physical exercises for babies and small children; exercises for the prevention of obesity; and also self-defense courses. g) Economics: themes on domestic management and the administration of the family budget; budget planning, income taxes and revenues. h) Psychology: all the themes should be oriented towards understanding the individual’s personality. It should also include elements of social psychology with a specific accent on the formation and de-structuring of ethnic, racist, and gender prejudices, on xenophobia, and on prejudices towards age and persons with specific physical disabilities; themes concerning aggression, and

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antisocial and deviant behavior. One of the main goals will be to raise awareness of personal life crises and situations of transition. i) Philosophy: analysis from a philosophical perspective of abortion and euthanasia. j) Religion: themes on reciprocity within couples, the education of small children, and assistance for the suffering the needy. The themes of the primary and lower secondary textbooks must be conceived so that 5% to 20% of the content is devoted to the following educational issues: • Domestic management • Developing domestic skills • Caring for oneself, children, and the helpless • Health and sexual education, family planning (responsibility for conception and the child’s upbringing) • Family relationships, divorce, widowhood, single-parent families, institutionalized children, friendship, and neighborhood relationships • The culture of leisure; road and traffic education • Education for participation in the life of the community.

We consider useful the introduction Ethics as an optional subject in the lower secondary schools. It could include themes on rape, sexual harassment, prostitution, pornography, pedophilia, and family justice.

Considering the objective of a partnership family, all the themes will be treated in a gender coherent and unitary manner, and they should be taught to girls and boys together. 5.6. Recommendations for the Institutions Involved in Educational Reform

Ignorance of the implicit segregation existing at all levels in Romanian education, in the curricula and the educational process, contributes to promoting and stimulating sexist attitudes, practices, prejudices and limitations. The official documents of the Ministry of National Education include specific provisions that forbid any type of discrimination (gender, racial, national, ethnic, religious, etc.) in the education process. Nevertheless, the mere existence of such prohibitions is insufficient to prevent against latent forms of discrimination. The perpetuation of gender stereotypes in the Romanian educational system is carried on in two ways: through the school curricula, and through the direct influence of teachers (the vast majority of teachers are female and less sensitive to gender discrimination and the subtle forms of sexist discrimination). Recommendations: a) Pertaining to the School Inspectorates • Introductory classes in gender issues within the larger framework of the professional development training programs organized for the teaching staff by the County School Inspectorates, in cooperation with specialized NGOs. • Organizing workshops and seminars for the School Inspectors, focusing on the outlining of strategies for disseminating and monitoring the equal opportunities policies through non-sexist education; • Introducing into the School Inspectorates’ established framework of teacher evaluation a specific evaluative category pertaining to the monitoring and practical realization of equal opportunities policies. This measure will discourage sexist approaches and discrimination, both by teachers and school inspectors. b) Pertaining to the Ministry of National Education • Explicitly forbidding gender segregation in school activities, both in theoretical and practical courses.


• The Ministry of National Education, together with the School Inspectorates and the specialized NGOs, should promote a consciousness-raising campaign, with parents, teachers, and pupils/students, pertaining to equal opportunities and non-sexist education. • Establishing a department in the M.N.E. specifically responsible for non-discriminatory education, as well as a Commission for Non-sexist Education and Equal Opportunities. • The M.N.E. should recommend adequate modes of address and norms of behavior, in order to prevent sexist discrimination in the official relations and documents within schools, Inspectorates, and the Ministry.

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APPENDIX 1 How does the Romanian population see the gender partnership in the public and private sphere?

The first school of democratic participation and socialization within the values of justice and participation is the family. The partnership in the private sphere makes the foundation for the partnership within the public sphere. The family is the first “school of justice and fairness.”

If we look beyond the figures indicating the gender discrimination at the level of women’s active participation in the exercise of political rights (i.e. local administration councils, Parliament, Government), (at a constant participation of 4-5%), we find motives and beliefs concerning the population’s opinions of gender relationships in terms of participation. This is what we may call, considering the results of the Gender Barometer, the symbolic patriarchy of the Romanian society in the private sphere, transferred as a real patriarchat in the public sphere. They account for the way in which the division of participation based on the allocation of authority in the private sphere is structured, and in the public one in terms of career opportunities, status and political participation. The results of the barometer are as follows: 1. Partnership in the family Domestic work is performed by 85% of women, while child caring accounts for only 67% (note that women represent almost half of the Romanian labor force). On the other hand, it is the population’s belief (in a proportion of 67%) that these tasks have to be performed by women. One possible explanation is the allocation of symbolic power in private life: 83% think that the man is the head of the family, 78% that the woman must follow her husband, 70% that the men have to be the main bread-winners, 61% that the woman is the mistress of the household (in terms of budget decisions). Asked an explicit question “who must rule in one’s family,” the gender equilibrium is more balanced: 61% say gender is not important or the family has to be ruled by men 32%, or women 4%. Only 5% of the Romanian families declare a constant partnership in the domestic activities and daily decisions in the private sphere. 2. Partnership in the public sphere

In terms of the descriptive indicators, under 5% of women are in charge of institutions, firms, are members in local administration councils, parliament and govern. What is the public opinion of the way in which things should be? Most of the population (52-55%) believes that gender is not an issue for those who run businesses, or are members in various local or central councils (although there is a larger preference for men, on an average 40%, versus 4-5% for women). On the other hand, women are preferred in the parent councils in schools (24%) and almost rejected in parish councils and in the position of President of the state (3% women, 77% man, and for 20% gender has no importance).

The explanations offered by the research subjects do not refer to women’s capacity of running, of taking responsibilities in business or politics, but, as shown in the results of the barometer they are conceived in terms of women’s domestic work and rearing children. Another important reason is men’s interest of not being in an open competition with women (65% of the offered answers given by men). 3. The education within the family

In Romanian families the values encouraged as virtues for girls and boys are the following: Girls are brought up so that they obey and work hard (i.e. submissiveness (53%) and industriousness (46%)). The education for autonomy (8%) and freedom of choice represent only 16%. Boys are brought up in the respect for discipline (61%) and industriousness (35%) while autonomy (16%) and freedom of choice (24%) represent an almost double proportion, compared with girls. Therefore, education in terms of democratic citizenship (decision-making, self-assertion), and participation is low, with significant lower values for girls). 4. Students are the most gender emancipated category

In terms of gender equity, the barometer shows encouraging figures in students and young people (18-26 of age). Their evaluations reflect an increased awareness of gender discrimination. In terms of normative behavior they are more gender balanced. They are the avant-garde of gender


partnership. Among the adult and aged population, in those with primary and secondary education, as well as in rural population, the gender conservatism is overwhelming.

The Gender Barometer clearly indicates that the level of education is the main cause of gender asymmetry and discrimination. This implies the conclusion that, besides the other types of public policies necessary for balancing women and men’s participation, those addressing the education bear a heavy long-term significance.

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APPENDIX 2

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Chart 10

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28 Mihaela Miroiu

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APPENDIX 3 Table 1 Careers recommended to girls/boys

Career Recommended to girls Recommended to boys

Baker, cook, bachelor Clerk Translator, librarian Model Theologian Army employee Construction, steelworker, welder Carpenter, electrician, mechanic Architect Engineer Pilot, sailor Farmer Sportsman, stunt Miner Baby-sitter, maid Hair-dresser, beautician, manicurist Tailor IT Specialist PC Operator Education employee Nurse, social worker Doctor (pediatrics, surgery) Dancer, companionship Waitress Accountant, economist Finance worker, financial inspector Broker, insurance agent Manager Assistant manager Saleswoman Actor Politician, president Air-hostess Decorations, designer Lawyer, jurist Psychologist Secretary Clockmaker Guardian

9 7 7

11 — —

— — — — — — — 11

28 27 — 5

61 34 22 6 3 7

— 2 2 4 4 — 4

12 8

10 25 1 —

9 — — — 4

21

23 26 9

18 19 4 4 4

— — 28 — 7 — 20 — — —

10 21 — — 3 4 — — 11 1 — — 1


Table 2 Activities teachers would organize only with girls

(117 recommendations)

Activity Frequency

Sewing, tailoring, cooking Sexual, sanitary, first-aid education Feminine ethics, family planning, children nurturing and raising Social, caring and helping activities Artistic activities Aerobics Classroom cleaning, taking care of plants Librarianship, learning foreign languages Museum visits Manufacturing educational materials

31 29

17 10 10 7 5 4 2 2

Table 3 Activities teachers would organize only with boys

(104 recommendations)

Activity Frequency

Effort-demanding activities Mechanics, fretwork, technical activities Manhood education, assessing good manners Sexual education IT, post-university studies Manufacturing educational materials Juridical and national defense education Museum visits Artistic activities Making surprises to girls

38 17 14 13 10 4 4 2 1 1

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REFERENCES BÂRZEA, Cezar (1999) (coord), România-Educaţia de Bază. Raport Naţional, (Romania. The Basic Education. National Report, 1999), Bucharest: Editura Metropol BOURDIEU, Pierre (1998) La dominante masculine, Paris: Seuil COSTEA O., (1999) Children’s Literature, Bucharest: Pedagogic Publishing House, RA GHICA, Vasile (1998) Ghid de consiliere şi orientare şcolară pentru orele de dirigenţie, (Guidelines for school and career counseling) Bucharest: Editura Polirom GRUNBERG Laura and MIROIU, Mihaela (1997a) (coord), Gen şi Educaţie (Gender and Education), Bucharest: AnA GRUNBERG, Laura (1997b) Stereotipuri de gen în educaţie: Cazul unor manuale de ciclu primar (Gender stereotypes in education: a case analysis of several primary education textbooks), Revista de Cercetări Sociale, (The Social Research Review) no. 2/1997 Bucharest GRUNBERG, Laura (1999) Access to gender-sensitive higher education in Eastern and Central Europe: Reflections from the CEPES-UNESCO Project on Good practice in Promoting Gender Equality in Higher Education, Higher Education in Europe, vol. XXIV, no.3 KORKA, Mihai (2000) Reforma învăţământului de la opţiuni strategice la acţiune, (The Reform of Education from Strategic Options to Implementation) Bucharest: Editura Punct LANDES Joan B. (ed.) (1998) Feminism. The Public and the Private, New York: Oxford University Press MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION (Ministerul Educatiei Nationale/MEN) (1999a) CURRICULUM NATIONAL. Planuri-cadru de învăţământ pentru învăţământul preuniversitar, (The National Curriculum for Primary and Secondary Education) Bucharest: MEN MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION (1999b) Ministry of National Education’s Recommendations for Topics to be Discussed in School Counseling Courses for the 13th Grade in Pedagogical Upper Secondary School 1999-2000, Bucharest: MEN MIROIU, Mihaela (1998) Inegalitatea de sanse in educatie (Gender Inequality in Education) in MIROIU, Adrian (coord.) (1998) Învăţământul Românesc Azi: Studiu de Diagnoză (The Romanian Education Today: A Diagnosis), Bucharest: Editura Polirom, pp. 139-156 NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR STATISTICS (Comisia Nationala pentru Statistica) (1999) Anuarul Statistic al Romaniei (Romanian Statistical Yearbook), Bucharest: CNS NICOLA, Ioan and FARCAS, Domnica (1999) The Theory of Education and Basics of Pedagogical Research, Bucharest: Pedagogic Publishing House, RA OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION (Fundatia pentru o Societate Deschisa) and the GALLUP ORGANIZATION (2000) Barometrul de gen (The Gender Barometer) Bucharest: OSF, coordinators: Renate Weber, Mihaela Miroiu UNDP AND THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR STATISTICS (eds) (2000) Femeile si barbatii in Romania (Women and Men in Romania) Bucharest: UNDP and CNS

Gender Dimension of Education in Romania

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