DIFFERENCE (Y / N) CRITICAL VALUE = 5.9 FAVOURED 99. Which doctors do you think are better - women or men doctors?
ALL Girls 68 33 254
8.4 Y: 5%
ALL Boys 38 41 160
STATEMENT NUMBER GENDER AGREE DISAGREE CHI-
SQUARE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE (Y /N) CRITICAL VALUE = 7.8 FAVOURED
106. It is a boy’s job to help his father fix machines around the house.
ALL Girls 185 170
33.6 Y: 1%
ALL Boys 181 59
107. If I was visiting the ESKOM nuclear power station, I expect the manager to whom I would be introduced, to be a MAN.
ALL Girls 148 207
22.9 Y: 1%
ALL Boys 141 99
108. Only men should be put in control of driving trains.
ALL Girls 114 241
8.1 Y: 5%
ALL Boys 89 151
110. Men are better rocket scientists than women.
ALL Girls 162 193
22.7 Y: 1%
ALL Boys 149 91
An analysis of the data in Figure 5.13 reveals that there is a statistically significant difference between the responses of girls and boys to the statements related to the perceptions of the gender of individuals participating in the identified science activities. In Statement 99, learners’ opinions were sought as to which gender they thought were better doctors: a larger percentage of the boys (17.2%) than girls (9.3%) felt that men were better doctors than women. This indication was further strengthened by the lower percentage of boys’ opinions that women and men were ‘equally good’ when compared with those of the girls. Slightly more girls (19.2%) than boys (15.9%) felt that women were better doctors. Boys and girls thus favoured their own gender in their responses as to which gender was the better doctor. In their identification of the opposite gender as better doctors, a larger percentage of boys (15.9%) are of the opinion that women are better doctors than girls who are of the opinion that men are better doctors (9.3%). This detail could be related to the fact that the healing aspect of the work of being a doctor is an affective quality and there is evidence in this research, both in the responses to the questionnaire and in the in-depth interviews, that, where
science activities of an affective nature are concerned, the favoured opinion is that women are more suited to the activity than men. A majority of more than two thirds of boys and girls were of the opinion that women and men equally were good doctors, an indication that the majority of surveyed learners didn’t conform to the stereotypical view of scientists.
Certain statements required learners to respond to a stereotyped view of science-related careers and pursuits like fixing things around the house, and to science-related careers that require an engineering qualification, such as managing a nuclear power station, being a rocket scientist and driving trains. Statistical analysis revealed that there are significant differences in the responses of the boys and girls. Figure 5.14 below indicates the extent of the difference:
FIGURE 5.14: Statements 106, 107, 108 and 110: Response percentages
STATEMENT NUMBER GENDER %
AGREE
% DISAGREE
106. It is a boy’s job to help his father fix machines around the house.
ALL Girls 53.1 47.9
ALL Boys 75.4 24.6
107. If I was visiting the ESKOM nuclear power station, I expect the manager to whom I would be introduced, to be a MAN.
ALL Girls 41.7 58.3
ALL Boys 58.8 41.2
108. Only men should be put in control of driving trains.
ALL Girls 32.1 67.9
ALL Boys 37.1 62.9
110. Men are better rocket scientists than women.
ALL Girls 45.6 54.4
ALL Boys 62.1 37.9
The significant difference, as indicated in Figure 5.14 is at the 1% level for Statements 106, 107 and 110. This means that the researcher can, with 99% confidence, accept that there is a significant difference in the responses; in all three statements the percentage of boys agreeing was larger than the percentage of girls. The analysis of the response data of all four statements reveals that boys are more in agreement with the stereotypical views of the careers and girls were more in disagreement. This indicates that boys are affirming the stereotypical view of the statements that suggest that science careers are for men, whereas girls are less supportive of and resistant to the stereotypical perceptions. The difference between the responses of girls and boys is more marked for responses to Statements 106, 107 and 110 than for Statement 108. In Statement 108, the researcher can with 95% confidence state that there is a difference in the responses, although this difference is smaller, probably because not many learners know that it requires an engineering qualification to drive a train. In Statement 108, the researcher can with 95% confidence state that there is a difference in
the responses of those learners agreeing and disagreeing. Responses to Statement 108 revealed that there is no significant difference between the views of the boys and the girls. 67.9% of the girls disagreed with the statement and a large percentage of boys (62.9%). Whilst it appears that both genders disagree with the statement, most likely because it is commonplace to see women driving vehicles, it would appear that boys are still holding on to the general, stereotypical gender role perceptions that science careers are largely a male domain.
Learner differences in gender-stereotyped perceptions of science careers as they move from the primary school Grade 7 to the secondary school Grades 8 and 9 were investigated further. This closer investigation of the statistics is presented in Figure 5.15 below:
FIGURE 5.15: CHI-SQUARED TESTS: Statements 106, 107, 108 and 110 Grades 7, 8 and 9 learner responses to perceptions regarding scientists
(Girls Grade 7: n = 119 ; Boys Grade 7: n = 80 ; Girls Grade 9: n = 120; Boys Grade 9: n = 80)
The statistical analysis of the statement that “it is a boy’s job to help his father fix machines around the house” reveals a significant difference between the responses of the Grade 7 and Grade 9 girls. Responding to this statement (that it is a boy’s job to help his father fix machines), the girls in Grade 9 disagree (60.8%) slightly more than the girls in Grade 7 agree (56.3%). The Grade 7 girls in the primary school are thus slightly more affirming of the gender-stereotypical view of the science activity than the Grade 9 girls in the secondary school. There are various factors that could have contributed to this. Grade 9 girls are likely to be more receptive to the message of women’s empowerment; at their age they would have matured in their thinking about gender more than Grade
STATEMENT NUMBER GENDER GRADE AGREE DISAGREE CHI-
SQUARE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE (Y / N) CRITICAL VALUE =7.8 FAVOURED 106. It is a boy’s job to help his father fix machines around the house.
GIRLS 7 67 53 13.8 Y: 1%
9 47 73
BOYS 7 66 14 7.4 N
9 50 27
107. If I was visiting the ESKOM nuclear power station, I expect the manager to whom I would be introduced, to be a MAN. GIRLS 7 59 61 17.1 Y: 1% 9 34 86 BOYS 7 62 18 16.5 Y: 1% 9 36 41
108. Only men should be put in control of driving trains.
GIRLS 7 43 77 11.7 Y: 1%
9 22 98
BOYS 7 36 44 9.9 Y: 5%
9 23 54
109. Women are better at looking after sick people than men.
GIRLS 7 73 47 12.0 Y: 1%
9 52 68
BOYS 7 56 23 7.6 N
9 39 38
110. Men are better rocket scientists than women.
GIRLS 7 63 57 7.5 N 9 49 71 BOYS 7 59 21 9.9 Y: 1% 9 40 37
7 girls or teachers could have made them more aware of gender issues. Boys in both Grades 7 (82.5%) and 9 (62.5%) strongly agree that “it is a boy’s job to help his father fix machines”, although there is an erosion from the Grade 7 to the Grade 9 boys. Like the Grade 9 girls, the Grade 9 boys would have matured in their thinking a little more, also because of their experience in the more mature climate of the secondary school culture. There is thus a stronger agreement from the Grade 7 boys in the primary school to the statement that helping a father to fix machines in and around the house is a boy’s job. The selections made by the Grade 7 and 9 learners confirm the stereotypical view that boys should be fixing machines around the house, with the boys’ view being more rooted in the gender stereotype than the girls’. The purposeful affirmation of the gender stereotype in the statement, through the unobtrusive identification of the father as the one to fix machines around the house, already embeds the gender stereotype into the statement; the boys’ stronger agreement in both Grades 7 and 9 accentuates the affirmation of the stereotype. In the same vein, the girls’ stronger disagreement than the boys’ accentuates their attitudes to the stereotype that was embedded in the manner in which the statement was presented to the learners.
In response to the statement regarding the managing of a nuclear power station, there is an almost even split between the Grade 7 girls as to those who agree (49%) and disagree (51%) with the statement. A larger percentage of the Grade 9 girls (71.6%) disagree with the statement as compared to the Grade 7 girls (51%). There is thus a significant difference in the gender perceptions of the Grades 7 and 9 girls about whom they would expect to manage a nuclear power station, an indication that with age and life experience there is a weakening of the stereotype amongst the girls, pointing to a resistance to stereotyping of science careers. As in the statement about it being “a boy’s job to help his father to fix things around the house”, Grade 9 girls are showing a maturity in their opinions in that they are moving away from the gender-stereotypical expectations. There is also a significant difference between the responses of the girls and the boys for the statement regarding whom they would expect should manage a nuclear power station. As for the girls, a similar weakening of the stereotype amongst the boys from Grades 7 to 9 is evident in the analysis of the data, although the statistics for the Grade 9 boys who agree and those who disagree are close, once again indicating a general move away from the stereotypical presentation of the science career.
There is a statistically significant difference between the response categories selected by the girls and boys and between Grades 7 and 9 learners to the statement that “only men should be put in control of driving trains”. The responses from both boys and girls across Grades 7 and 9 exhibit a strong disagreement with the statement, with the Grade 9 boys markedly stronger in their disagreement than the Grade 7 boys. This pattern of disagreement with the statement is repeated in the responses of the Grades 7 and 9 girls.
There is a statement in the survey questionnaire that asserts that “men are better rocket scientists than women”. The response of the Grade 7 girls to this statement indicates only a small difference between those who agree (52.9%) and those who disagree (47.1%). In contrast to the Grade 7 girls, the statistics regarding the responses of Grade 9 girls indicate a firm disagreeing with the statement (59.2%), which points once again to the weakening of the stereotype as girl learners progress from the primary to the secondary school. There is a statistically significant difference between the Grades 7 and 9 boys’ responses to the statement that “men are better rocket scientists than women”: there is stronger agreement with the statement from the Grade 7 boys (73.8%) than the Grade 9 boys (50%). This falls in line with the trend of the weakening of gender-stereotypical perceptions from the primary school Grade 7 to the secondary school Grade 9 amongst both girls and boys. This occurs as social reality, life experience, the academic learning progress, the influence of the women’s empowerment message, formal government gender equity messages and aging and maturing in years start to influence understanding and change gender perceptions.
5.2.5.2 Learners’ perceptions of the race and gender composition of science careers
Learners have gendered, stereotyped perceptions of careers in the science field. In South Africa, the socio-economic context in which science careers are practiced is influenced by the lingering effects of the system of Apartheid, which limited entry into science careers in a job classification system based on race and ethnicity. The residual effects of the Apartheid system on the psyche of communities mean not only that the images of Whites monopolising certain science careers persist, but also that they still largely occupy those careers. During the Apartheid years, Black women faced added obstacles in their attempts to enter science careers: some science careers, especially in the formal government sector, were closed to any but people classified as ‘White’. It is within this context and against this background that statements were posed in the survey questionnaire and grouped here for comment in order to establish the extent of the lingering effects of Apartheid’s racial job classification, compounded by gender stereotyping, on perceptions of who occupied science careers. These statements and the analyses of them are also in response to the research question that was posed: What role does race play in learners’ reported perceptions of science careers? By implication, this perception would also include stereotypes of science careers. Figure 5.16 below presents the data of learner responses to statements designed to assess the double effects of race and gender on science careers.
Comment [LG2]: note to self – why not numbered?