Teachers Gender-Stereotypes Belief and Practices in the Post Primary Public Schools: A GEMS Study in the Mumbai

Role of teachers is particularly central in the school context: teachers bring their own ideas about gender to the classroom; they may treat students differently based on their own or the student's gender, communicate different expectations for students, assign chores based on sex, and monitor or discipline students differently. This study explores the gender-stereotyped beliefs and perception of secondary school teachers’ in classroom practices. A total of 257 teachers’ participated in this study conducted by International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), as a part of ongoing Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) Project. A self-administered questionnaire was used to generate responses from teachers on how gender-stereotypes are played out in their classroom practices. Results indicate that most of the teachers surveyed directly or indirectly promote gender-stereotypes. Data reveals that female teachers are more gender equitable than male teacher, regression result depict that female teachers are significantly 3.7 times more gender equitable than their counterpart male teacher. The study recommends that teacher’s education curricula for both pre-service and in-service must be permeated with opportunities to acquire gender sensitivity knowledge, skills and develop attitudes in classroom layout.