Study of Awareness of Gender Sensitiveness among the Secondary School Teachers of Bhopal

Abstract

Gender is a social construct that impacts attitudes, roles, responsibilities and behavior patterns of boys and girls, men and women in all societies. Increasing attention has been given to the importance of achieving gender equality in education. To date, however, most efforts have focused on addressing gender parity - an equal number or proportion of girls and boys accessing educational opportunities. Although simple gender parity may be easier to measure, gender equality encompasses a wider concept, of which gender parity is only a part. Gender equality moves beyond access and requires that girls and boys also experience the same levels of quality and outcomes of education. One of the key impediments to achieving gender equality in education is that it cannot be addressed in a vacuum; rather, educational institutions are products of the inequalities that exist in larger society. Educational institutions are shaped by the societal forces that perpetuate genderDbased discrimination; yet, they can also be essential tools to effect great change throughout a community or social context. Behaviours and beliefs formed in schools and educational institutions can have a lasting impact on gender relations in society. Education systems are both a result of external forces and instrumental to perpetuating or alleviating gender disparity around the world